A week after his discharge from hospital, accident victim Christopher Naipaul’s relatives discovered pieces of broken glass in his wounds, which had been stitched and bandaged.
“People does talk good about the public hospital but like I really don’t know what to say,” said Naipaul’s mother, Amanda Lam, who is questioning the service which is being offered by Guyana’s premier health institution, the Georgetown Public Hos-pital (GPH).
Lam and her son, who is 17, were both injured in an accident on July 31st, at Houston, East Bank Demerara, where a minibus collided with the hire car that was transporting her. Another passenger in the vehicle, Daphne Layne, 81, died as a result of the accident.
Lam said her son swallowed a piece of glass during the accident but was discharged from the hospital since doctors were unable to locate it. The teen’s windpipe was punctured in the accident.
However, she noted that her son had complained of continued discomfort, which prompted him to undo the stitched wounds along one of his arms. Lam said they managed to recover seven pieces of broken glass from the stitched area.
As a result, she said that she ended up bearing unnecessary expenses as she was forced to resort to private medical attention for her son due to the poor service they received at the GPH.
Lam, who has been unable to work since the accident, also related that she visited the GPH on Friday and she requested a medical certificate but it was denied.
One of the nurses told her that her chart could not be found and if she needed a certificate she would have to pay $5,000 or return in the company of her attorney.
The perplexed woman said she is totally confused by the response she received because she expected the service provided by the hospital to be free.
Several attempts to get a comment from the GPH on Lam’s case have been unsuccessful.
Lam had previously told Stabroek News that she was discharged from the hospital with two fractures to her jaw, which the hospital ignored.
Lam had to resort to seeking private treatment. She had said that she was referred by the GPH to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, but a doctor there referred her to the Cheddi Jagan Dental School, since there was no specialist. However, the Dental School told her that she will have to wait until October or November for treatment. Lam eventually sought private treatment and her jaw has been wired shut.
