Residents of Region Six for several weeks now have been complaining about the long waiting periods at the hospital before they are allowed to meet with a doctor for treatment. Others have stated that they are forced to return home with their aliments unattended to because they are physically unable to sit and wait for such a long period.
The new system which was recently implemented at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital’s emergency unit is frustrating patients since they now have to fill out a form describing their symptoms, and based on the form and no physical contact with the patient, the doctor on duty will then decide which is an emergency case and which is not.
Over the past two weeks, Stabroek News has been receiving complaints for persons throughout Region Six about the new system, which they lamented was one of the worst ever implemented at the public facility.
According to the information gathered, under the previous system, patients would take a number at the emergency unit and based on their number they would then meet with a doctor for care. However, children, pregnant women and senior citizens were treated as priority in the number system.
It was explained to this newspaper that the accident & emergency and outpatient are now one unit and as such, all persons show up for medical assistance at that specific location. However, due to the new procedures, it is now unclear whether persons who are not deemed an emergency case would now receive treatment from the hospital.
On Wednesday when Stabroek News arrived at the hospital, a woman was standing at the entrance to the emergency unit in tears, while other patients gathered around her and began to argue on her behalf for a doctor to attend to her.
The woman, who arrived at the hospital emergency unit before 8 am stated that she was experiencing excruciating pain about her body and although her form was sent to the doctor, her case supposedly did not qualify as an emergency. A relative who later arrived was told that there was no doctor present at that time, which was minutes after 11 pm.
The relative then phoned the Director of Regional Health Services, Jevaughn Stephens, who then reportedly phoned the hospital. The woman was given treatment about 45 minutes after the Director’s call.
Patients present at the hospital told Stabroek News that the new system was implemented by the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer.
Stabroek News visited the CEO’s office on Wednesday to seek clarity on the new system, however, her secretary stated, that she was unavailable for a meeting.
Another patient who was present with her daughter, who was dressed in her school uniform explained, that her daughter had to get an x ray, which was done. She said, “I came here since 8 [am] with her x-ray results to show the doctor because we were here yesterday [Tuesday] and unto now [minutes after 11 am] I cannot meet with anyone. You have to go through the whole process, fill the form and say why you are here and still you can’t meet with them.”
“Me daughter hand look like it broken and them tell me I have to wait, is not an emergency.”
She further relayed, “When I went here on Tuesday, people come from 7 in the morning and go home till night and them still na get help.”
Additionally, another patient who was present last week explained, “I come here last week and them send me to the old hospital then they give me a form to go to the lab here, when I go the lab the lab say them not accepting that form, I bring it to emergency they give me a next one [form], now I have to go through the process for them to rewrite the form to take back to the lab”.
As of Wednesday, the woman stated, that she was waiting for the form to be filled out so that her daughter can undergo the tests recommended by the doctor she met with last week, so that he can be able to properly identify her illness and treat her. “All this my daughter doing and I got to come back next week because the lab is every Wednesday, my daughter is a CXC student and she missing school.”
“Why they didn’t give me the correct form in the first place and then when I bring the correct form, why they can’t full it out for my daughter to get her test done. I’m here since morning and we are waiting,” she added.
An East Canje woman said, “This is like me coming and beg for help, when you go private you get help quick but me na get money to go private.”
Another woman also told Stabroek News that she was forced to leave the hospital on Monday without meeting a doctor because she was tired of waiting from 8 am to minutes after 9 pm.
Patients at the A&E Department
