The St Joseph Mercy Hospital says it will release a statement today on the recent deaths of a young mother and her newborn baby.
Jaiwanti Chanderpaul and her newborn died a day apart last week after the baby was delivered by caesarean section.
Contacted yesterday, Associate Administrator for the hospital Helen Browman told Stabroek News that the hospital will be releasing a statement in relation to the death of Chanderpaul today.
Browman said that the hospital is taking the maternal death very seriously. On Thursday of last week Chanderpaul, 25 years, passed away from complications after delivering the baby on Wednesday who tragically succumbed the same day.
The Guyana Chronicle had reported on the deaths in Saturday’s edition but had erroneously stated that they had occurred at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. This prompted a press conference by the hospital on Saturday to refute the report.
GPHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Khan said that nothing of the sort took place at the hospital. He added that while the hospital sympathises with the deceased’s family, Chanderpaul was never a patient at the hospital.
June Cato, Head of the GPHC’s Maternity Ward, said that she was surprised when she saw the report on Chanderpaul. She added that the hospital has no records of Chanderpaul and no one contacted the hospital in relation to the death. The hospital later issued a press release categorically denying the Chronicle report and calling for a retraction.
Chanderpaul, 25, of Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara and the baby were taken to Sandy’s Funeral Home following their deaths at St Joseph Mercy.
Her husband, Raymond Mohammed, told Stabroek News that his wife was never at the GPHC and did not spend 14 weeks in the hospital as stated in the Chronicle report. He said that she experienced complications from the early stages of her pregnancy.
After the first two months, she started to suffer from gynaecological problems and he and Chanderpaul agreed that she would have surgery for the issue when the baby was fully developed.
He said that she was later taken to a private hospital (not St Joseph’s Mercy) to have the surgery performed. He said that she was doing well up to about a month after the surgery. “As the baby got bigger, she start to get sick again,” Mohammed said.
He added that her blood pressure got higher, among other complications. Because Chanderpaul’s health declined, Mohammed said, he was urged to take her to the Mercy hospital. While there he said she received the best care.
He said that she was kept at the hospital for two weeks before the decision was made to perform a caesarean section when she became seven months pregnant. He said that this was because she got weaker as time passed.
However, because Chanderpaul was getting weaker, the decision was made to perform the C-section when she was six months and two weeks pregnant. He added that because the baby was premature and could not breathe on its own, the child’s survival was always touch and go.
Mohammed added that his wife’s lungs began to collapse and she subsequently died a day after her baby. She was cremated on Saturday afternoon.
