A Corentyne mother is seeking answers from the Anamayah Memorial Hospital in Berbice, which says she delivered a baby girl via a C-section earlier this month after it told her that she had been carrying twins.
“Something went wrong and they are covering up it but I want answers,” Omawattie Samaroo, 37, of Number 2 Village, Corentyne, Berbice told Stabroek News. “I don’t know where my child is but I know it was born. I don’t know if they sell it, they tek it for they self or they do something wrong and make the child died and they covering up,” Samaroo added, while calling for authorities to investigate.
In a statement issued last evening, the Anamayah Memorial Hospital said there was a “misunderstanding/misdirection with respect to the interpretation of the ultrasound” and emphasised that Samaroo only conceived one child. “The patient never carried twins and did not deliver twins,” it added, while stating that the hospital administration spoke to Samaroo and her family at length and explained all that transpired.
Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton told Stabroek News last evening that a thorough investigation will be conducted. He said he was extremely interested in the case and would want to find out what happened.
Junior Public Health Minister Dr Karen Cummings, who had earlier said the ministry is aware of the case, noted that abdominal ultrasounds do have a small percentage of error. But she added that since Samaroo is claiming that she had a second opinion, there would be need for an explanation.
Samaroo and her family are adamant that while the hospital has since told them that the staff had been misinformed, they were shown the babies moving and had the opportunity to hear their heartbeats on many occasions Samaroo visited the clinic.
Although Samaroo is not in possession of ultrasound images, a report that was issued to her by the hospital on September 7, when she underwent the last ultrasound examination, indicated that she was carrying twin foetuses.
Samaroo said when she was seven months pregnant she visited the clinic and she was informed that she was expecting a girl. The following month, she added, a nurse at the hospital told her that her stomach was too big and she should undergo another ultrasound. She followed the advice and after the ultrasound Samaroo was informed that she should expect twins. On the same day, she added, she had to wait two hours for an injection given to mothers who are expecting twin babies to ensure the babies grow at the same pace.
The woman said she happily related the news to family members, who were overjoyed and eagerly awaiting the babies.
“Every time I go clinic, the people at the hospital does take so much care for me because they did all know I expecting twins because if you did see my belly size,” Samaroo recalled. “They always tell me when I done do every check-up that my baby them strong, just like me and I is one strong mother and so,” she added.
According to Samaroo, on September 7, she was advised that she was ready to deliver and should choose a date.
Subsequently, she went to the hospital for delivery on September 12. “I go in the morning and by 5 o’ clock they took me to theatre and said they will start work on me. I go in that time and they ‘knock me out,’” she said, while recalling going into the operating theatre accompanied by three doctors, including Dr Ryan Anamayah, and two nurses.
She also said that despite the fact that she was given an injection to sleep before the C-section was conducted, she was still conscious and knew what was transpiring in the room. “They did hurrying and do everything and I ask them when I hear baby crying if everything ok and they said yes. And then I ask them what baby I get and they say a girl, so I say, ‘Only a girl? What happen to the other one?’ And up to now I can’t get an answer because soon as I ask that they give me another injection and I sleep away. The next morning I woke up, I only see a baby girl,” the distressed woman added.
She said when she woke the only person she saw was a nurse, who was attending her baby. “I still ask the nurse what happened and she tell me that the ultrasound machine was showing wrong all the time,” Samaroo recalled.
Another relative told this newspaper that family members kept inquiring about what transpired and a hospital staffer told her that the ultrasound machine misled the doctors and nurses.
Samaroo and her baby daughter were discharged on September 14.
Samaroo said the only records she has from the hospital are the reports of the two last ultrasounds that were conducted. The other records are lodged at the institution. She made a request to access them but it was denied and she was told that if she wanted them she had to go through a legal procedure.
Nevertheless, Samaroo, who said she regrets not taking advice to travel overseas for her delivery, noted that if it were a case where the baby had died and she was shown the corpse she would have accepted it.
“I just need to know what happened. All they tell me before they send me home was that I get a healthy gal baby and I must tek care of it and myself,” Samaroo said.
Meanwhile, the hospital statement said Samaroo and her family were satisfied with the explanation given by the administration.
“No baby was stolen, no baby died,” it said, while lamenting that “individuals with ulterior motives” have resorted to using social media to “spread misinformation and make unfounded and damaging allegations” against the hospital.
It also suggested that there is a “politically motivated attempt” to besmirch the hospital’s good name.
