On Sunday, when Suemede Eastman-Critchlow should have been enjoying a joint birthday party with her son, Kevon, she was grieving, not just the loss of her child but also the absence of any explanation for his death six months ago.
Eastman-Critchlow told Stabroek News, that it had been her intention to simultaneously celebrate Kevon’s birthday and her own as they were just days apart.
“We would cook and invite close friends and family mostly children… Our family has a lot of children and I love children,” she explained.
Instead of this celebration the mother continues to seek answers about the cause of her child’s death.
Four-month-old Kevon Eastman-Critchlow died in March, after he received what his family believes were wrong vaccines at the Plaisance Health Centre. Since her son’s death Eastman-Critchlow has been desperately trying to get answers from officials at the Ministry of Health.
In May, she had told Stabroek News that she had been calling both the CMO Dr Persaud and the then director of the Maternal and Child Health Division Dr Janice Woolford but had not received any answers.
In April Eastman-Critchlow had been told by Persaud that an investigation led by Woolford had been launched, this investigation was expected to be concluded by April 30.
Today, 5 months after that date she has still not received any answers des-pite her numerous queries.
She is particularly saddened by the failure of Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton to keep a promise he made on his appointment.
In May the then newly appointed minister had promised to relieve the agony of families trying to find answers to infant and maternal deaths.
When contacted on Friday for information on the state of the investigation into Kevon’s death, the minister told Stabroek News that he was “unaware of the family seeking information in the case.”
A post-mortem examination had revealed that Kevon suffered a brain haemorrhage. It however could not conclusively identify a cause of death and samples were reportedly sent for further testing.
The distraught young mother firmly believes that the nurse who vaccinated Kevon mistakenly injected him with vaccines meant for his five-year-old cousin, who is also named K. Critchlow.
She is enraged at the fact that not only has her family not been provided any information but the nurse who was accused in her son’s death is still on the job.
The Eastman-Critchlow family is calling on the Ministry of Health to give them answers and compensate them for the loss of their child by in the first instance holding someone accountable for his death.
