A 65-year-old woman had what she described as a “painful and bloody experience” when what should have been a simple procedure of removing an intrauterine device (IUD) at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) went horribly wrong after the doctor was forced to abandon the procedure because the hospital did not have the instrument needed to remove the device.
The woman, who requested anonymity, in an interview with the Stabroek News said that April 17 is a day she wants removed from her memory but she keeps recalling the seconds after waking up bloodied and in pain and being told that the procedure was not complete.
In the end she was forced to visit a private hospital and pay the enormous sum of $150,000 to have the procedure done.
Efforts to get a comment from the GPH proved futile.
An IUD is a form of birth control that involves a small device being inserted in the uterus.
The woman said she was anxious to remove the IUD because she was experiencing bleeding and serious back pain. While it could have been done without anaesthesia, she said she requested it because she was afraid of pain. When she woke up, she immediately asked the doctor if the IUD was removed and he responded in the negative. While initially she thought he was joking her worst fear was realised when he told her a second time that the device was still in her.
But what shocked her was the reason the procedure was not completed; the hospital did not have the instrument to remove the device.
“The hospital did not have a loop (IUD) remover, a long thin metal rod with a little hook at the end that costs almost nothing they did not have,” the woman said, still in a state of disbelief almost a month later.
She said the doctor in apparent frustration explained that in the middle of the procedure he asked the nurse for the instrument and she responded that they did not have one. He instructed her to find one quickly. The nurse apparently searched the hospital but did not find the device and the procedure had to be cancelled while the woman was still under general anaesthesia.
As she was being given the shocking information the woman said she was bleeding profusely as her infected IUD was still stuck in her. When she asked the doctor what her next step should be, he told her the only thing he could do was to discharge her but she should keep checking with the hospital. Once the hospital would have acquired the instrument to complete the procedure, she was told, she would be re-admitted.
However, she was even more shocked when she was told that an order for the instrument would not be made until August.
“I am bleeding, have severe back pain, no money and have an infected IUD in my uterus and lying on an old dirty bed in an overcrowded ward with no hope of being helped,” was how the woman described her situation shortly after the shocking news.
She questioned how a hospital in the 21st century be operating in such a manner and suggested those in charge to hide their faces in shame and resign from their posts.
“I lay in the bed surrounded by sick women who were all complaining about the poor attitudes of the nurses, the heat and mosquitoes, the lack of privacy and the shoddy manner we were being monitored and cared for,” the woman continued.
The woman, who is widowed and is forced to support herself, asked about the taxes she pays pointing out that the one time she asked her government for help she was left to “bleed, poor and hopeless and told that they did not have a simple inexpensive equipment.”
She said she was lucky that a relative heard of her plight, removed her from the hospital and took her to a private institution. The IUD was removed the very next day but for a whopping cost of $150,000.
“I am a poor woman who could not have afforded to go private and that is why I went to GPH. Now I have a huge loan to pay because the GPH did not have a loop remover, which cost less than $2,000 in Guyana,” the frustrated woman said.
And the woman also complained about the condition of the Obstetrics and Gynaecolo-gical Ward at the hospital stating that she was “appalled at the depreciation of the place.”
She described it as having poor sanitation and the building itself as in dire need of repairs and cleaning.
“There are leaking bathrooms with no soap, paper towels or toilet paper. Flies are everywhere and the unit is equipped with old rusted beds and broken and rusting bedside cabinets,” the woman said.
However, she said, she allowed herself to be admitted as the young doctor reassured her that the simple procedure would be performed the next day and she would have been o
ut of the hospital.
She said while the doctor apologised to her still felt the need to publicise her ordeal because there are serious administrative problems at the hospital. The woman said she cannot understand that in this day and age doctors working at Guyana’s premier public hospital are forced to abandon a simple procedure because the instrument needed is not available. She also questioned whether it was the duty of the doctor to ascertain that all the necessary instruments were available before putting her under anaesthesia.
“I just want people to see what is going on and for them to do better,” the woman said.
