The driver who was involved in the accident at Vreed-en-Hoop last week that claimed the life of his friend and injured another is in a stable condition and currently at home recovering, relatives say.
Twenty-year-old Victor Aditya Ram of Crane Housing Scheme died while 23-year-old Kevin Henry and 23-year-old Bishram Ramkishore, who was driving motor car PTT 6297, were injured after the car crashed into the fence of the Hand in Hand Insurance Company at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, around 2:00 am.
Henry, who was in the back seat at the time of the accident, had explained that the three men were heading to a friend’s home when Ramkishore swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian and careened off the road into a nearby drain before slamming into a large sign and then a concrete wall.
Ram, who was tossed out of the car and onto the road, suffered severe injuries to his back and head, and according to a post-mortem examination performed on Monday, he died as a result of a fractured spine and neck.
Barely able to pull himself out of the mangled vehicle, Henry had related that he started walking to the hospital, as his friends were being assisted by public-spirted citizens. After a few minutes he arrived at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) and his friends followed shortly after. Ram was pronounced dead on arrival and Ramkishore was admitted in a critical condition.
Ramkishore was subsequently transferred to the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital after his family said that the WDRH had “given up on him”. He remained at the private hospital from July 22 until he was discharged on Tuesday and is currently at home recuperating.
“He has improved and he’s home right now but he can’t walk and he needs assistance. He can’t remember anything [about the accident] because of head injuries and sometimes he even forgets some of the family members but the doctors said he has to take some months for his brain to reconnect,” Ramkishore’s aunt, Amrita Sookdeo told Stabroek News yesterday.
She related that he suffered a fractured skull and brain injuries and also had a dislocated jaw that he had to have surgery done on.
“The police was here today [Thursday] and when they came he was sleeping but they said they would have to take him to the station and I explained that he can’t walk and that the doctors shouldn’t tell him anything now until his brain reconnects but they said they have certain procedures they have to follow,” Sookdeo added.
She also said that the family wanted to extend their gratitude to the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital for the efforts they put towards saving Ramkishore’s life “because West Demerara [Regional Hospital] give up on he.”
Sookdeo had related last week that the family was not happy with how the WDRH treated him.
“When we were there [WDRH] they looked after him and they said that they gave him pain tablets, but they couldn’t do anything because he is very critical. I was there for about two to three hours and they didn’t say back anything. They said he’s dropping lower and lower, and I got advice from my family to take him somewhere else and to just make a try, because they weren’t doing anything,” Sookdeo had said.
She had explained that after hours of nothing being done at the WDRH or any indication that they would transfer him to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the family took it upon themselves to have him transferred to the private hospital in the hope that he would receive better treatment. He was eventually rushed to the private hospital where he was treated.
