“I’m just praying that my son will not have any permanent injuries when he gets older and that he will be able to use both of his hands.”
This was the sentiment of 29-year-old Parbatie Ramdat, the mother of baby Arveer Ashok Amarnauth who was born on October 26th at the Suddie Public Hospital and suffered a fractured shoulder after being allegedly pulled out by his shoulder during birth.
A call was made by Stabroek News to the hospital yesterday but the reporter was told that the administrator was not available for a comment on the matter.
When Stabroek News visited the home of Ramdatt yesterday, baby Arveer was sleeping peacefully while his mother recounted what transpired on the day of his birth.
“On the 19th October, I started feeling pain so I went to the Suddie Hospital and I was told by a nurse after she checked me that I had an infection. I got admitted and they give me antibiotics for the infection and it helped.
While going to clinic at Anna Regina and Suddie the health workers told me that I will have to get cut because the baby was too big so my mind was already set on that.”
The woman related that on Thursday, October 22, the pain increased and that night when the doctor visited the ward and checked her, she was told that she still was not ready to give birth.
“I told her to cut me and all she said was that she was going to decide. The pain was going and coming but on Sunday, the pain got worse and I told the nurse at the ward. The nurse told the doctor and the doctor said that she was going to induce labour on the Monday morning.
After the pain increased, they moved me to the front of the ward and I stared hollering because of the pain. The nurse checked me and I was still not ready for labour because I was just about 6 cm but the nurse said I was approaching labour.
I was in great pain and I started begging them to cut me but still I got no positive answer from them.
Monday about 15 minutes to three, I told them that I couldn’t bear the pain no more and the nurse said I was at 8 cm.”
Ramdat recalled that she was taken into the labour room where she was told that the water bag would be cut.
“The nurse tell me that the baby mess in me and that was bad. I just kept asking them to cut me but no one seemed to be listening to me. All they said was to keep pushing that I could give birth normally. I got very weak and they gave me saline.
I was conscious all the time and I asked them if the baby head was showing and they said keep pushing. A Cuban doctor was called in and I just heard the doctor said ‘hold he by he shoulder and pull he out.’”
She added that a gynaecologist was in the room too and he said that a C-section should have been done but another doctor sad that I could do a normal birth. She said that after she realised that her baby had been delivered she started asking for him but they had already taken him away.
A doctor said to her that her baby was in a critical condition and that’s when she said that she started crying and praying. This was around 7pm on Monday.
The woman said that the baby was placed in an incubator and she was not able to see him until later that night when she insisted on seeing her son.
‘When I went to see him, he was crying and I tried to comfort him the best way I could.
The next morning, the doctor told me that my baby had a fractured shoulder and that he was not in a position to go home. His right hand was already in a cast and on Tuesday, I was told that they will have to loose out the cast and do it back because it wasn’t done well.
When I went to see my child, I observed that his left hand was falling back and like it wasn’t in position so I asked the doctors and they said that a nerve in his hand was damaged and that Arveer would have to do physiotherapy but he would be OK.”
On November 2, Ramdat and Arveer were released from the Suddie Public Hospital.
Arveer’s right hand was still in a cast. On November 5 both of the baby’s hands were put into casts, and again according to Ramdat, she was not given a definite reason as to what caused her baby to suffer a fractured shoulder.
The distraught mother was told to return to the hospital tomorrow to uplift a medical report for her son who weighed 4.72kgs at birth but according to her, lost a considerable amount of weight.
“My son left eye was not opening and when I enquired the doctor said it was because the nerve in his hand was damaged. Thankfully, both of his eyes are opening now and he is doing well except for the damage to his hand. I am very upset because no one from the hospital contacted me even though they are aware of the damage my child got.
“I want them to give my son proper medical attention because I do not want him to suffer any permanent injuries that could hinder his future. Right now I’m contemplating my next move and what to do. I noticed last night when I was checking Arveer’s Appointment Card that it said that he suffered from something that I did not understand so I asked one of my relatives to check what it meant in the dictionary and she told me that it meant that Arveer was shocked to his head. This is a new development and I’m even more upset because no doctor or nurse explained nothing to me”, she said.
