Following reports of patients being turned away from the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, an investigation into the administration of the facility will be undertaken, Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton says.
“I am not happy with what is going on at Diamond. An investigation will be launched,” Norton told Stabroek News yesterday. His statement comes in the wake of complaints raised by persons including the husband of a woman injured in an accident at Coverden, East Bank Demerara during the wee hours of yesterday morning, that they were turned away from the medical facility.
The Coverden accident claimed the lives of 23-year-old Rudolph Bess and 16-year-old Hasranie Persaud. “We took the lady to Diamond first and a nurse just peep out and say ‘Don’t bring she hay, dem ain’t gat doctor or nurse. Carry she Georgetown (GPHC)’,” one woman, Ingrid, recounted of her experience in assisting to take the injured Yolanda Patterson to the Diamond Hospital.
Ingrid’s statement was supported by Joseph Patterson, who said he was disappointed and saddened at the treatment he and his wife received when a relative and public-spirited persons joined them in an airport ambulance and took them for treatment at the facility following the Coverden accident.
He explained that after the accident, they were rushed to the hospital via an ambulance which came to the scene from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
They were followed closely behind by a relative of his wife and two public-spirited persons. They went to the Diamond hospital given that it was the nearest medical facility to the scene of the accident and his family thought they would have at least first response emergency measures in place. Patterson said when they arrived, a nurse in uniform came out and enquired what had happened. He related that they were involved in an accident and his wife was injured and he was not sure if he was but that his main concern was his wife.
The nurse, Patterson recounted, went to get the doctor but when she came back, she related that the doctor told her to inform them that they should go to the Georgetown hospital because the Diamond hospital did not have staff, and also, if he took Yolanda out of the ambulance, they did not have any staff there to take her to the Georgetown Public Hospital if necessary. “I became more disoriented and frustrated because this is my wife and she is badly injured and (a) doctor at an institution who was not engaged in any emergency, who could have at least came to ensure that something was said. He could have said ‘This person (the nurse) would could continue the journey with you in the ambulance to Georgetown hospital’,” an upset Patterson said.
When Norton was informed of Patterson’s experience, he said he was not surprised as there had been other complaints from patients who went to the Diamond hospital.
“We had complaints before where the nurse turned away a patient and a doctor who refused to treat a patient that was asthmatic. We are investigating that. We have to speed up investigations to find out what is happening at Diamond,” he said.
“As far as I know, they should have 24 hours service there. It used to be like that and nothing has changed. Could be the persons were there and did not want to work,” he added.
Norton acknowledged that while there might be ambulances at hospitals, not all of them have emergency medical technicians to aid in discharging patients at the hospital.
The minister said while the doctor may have refused to see the patient because of the scenario, he is not happy with the performance of the institution. Norton said the ministry plans to upgrade the hospital, both at the personnel and technical levels. “Diamond seems to have lost the usefulness it once had and we have to get it back,” he declared.
