Following recent reports of a foetus being mutilated at the Diamond Hospital, Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton has attributed the incident to negligence and stated that the responsible party will likely be sanctioned.
In a press release from the Ministry of Public Health, it was stated that there is an established protocol for the disposal of biohazardous waste, the terms of which were not adhered to.
It is customary that such waste be transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where disposal is done, and though arrangements involving such were said to have been made between Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Shamdeo Persaud and Chief Executive Officer of the GPHC Allan Johnson, instructions to transfer the foetus were not adhered to.
According to reports reaching the minister, the mother delivered on Sunday morning around 6’o’clock, but declared that she did not want the foetus.
Contrary to media reports, Norton related to Stabroek News that information he received indicated that on Monday, the foetus was placed in a garbage bin and that bin later taken to a site outside the hospital, where a dog was able to access it.
It was previously reported by the Guyana Times that the foetus was improperly disposed of inside the building, and a stray dog gained access to the institution, where it dismembered the body, the remains of which were said to have been discovered in the hospital compound. Norton denied this, stating that dogs would not be able to get inside the hospital. Furthermore, he said, the lower half of the body was discovered in the bin.
Regardless of how the body came to be in that state, however, the minister asserted that carelessness was the cause.
“… Somebody was negligent, somebody was not doing what they were supposed to do.
Persons are denying it but we’re investigating,” he stated during an interview, adding “It is scandalous and we will do everything for it not to happen again.”
He also stated that the doctor who assisted in delivery as well as the accompanying nurse would have to give an account of what transpired.
The foetus was less than 24 weeks old at the time of delivery and had it lived to full term, would have been the sixth child of its mother, who is 26 years old.
