Residents of Region Six yesterday held a picketing exercise outside of the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, in an effort to let their frustrations over poor conditions and delivery of services at the facility be heard.
The visibly upset residents yesterday made calls for the immediate resignation of the Director of Health Services of Region Six, Jevaughn Stephens and CEO of the Hospital, Samantha Kennedy, since according to the protestors, both officials seem inexperienced to be in the posts they are in.
Last week, members of the public had complained about new procedures at the hospital and long waiting times.
Sheriann Beharry, who was a part of the protest yesterday, told Stabroek News that she became very frustrated on Monday last after her son, who suffered an injury on his hand, was not given proper medical attention.
“My son fall at Berbice High School on Monday, around 1 (pm) the teacher call and say she’s at the hospital with him. When I come, the teacher was running back and forth to get me son register, when we went inside (emergency) them say he would have been the second child. We wait there until 4 (pm), then we see they were changing shift. The CEO come and then the doctor come to me and say, ‘your son is not an emergency, please go outside and wait at outpatient, the form would come outside’”.
The woman said she had no choice but to sit helplessly and watch on as her son cried in pain. She noted that her son was not allowed to see a doctor until 9.30 pm Monday. “He keep crying and then 9.30 he did X-ray and then we went and get his hand strap and after that we had to go back and do another X-ray,” she recalled.
Beharry called for the CEO of the hospital to explain to the public what exactly is considered an emergency case at the hospital. “It was so heartrending; there were babies there, old folks all in pain and fever, until one child get fits, then she (CEO) come emergency,” the woman related.
The woman explained that another issue is the lack of various drugs at the hospital.
Stabroek News was present in the pharmacy area yesterday, when it was noticed that the hospital was unable to completely full the prescription of at least one patient. One woman said, “Every time you come clinic here, them never get all the tablets fah give you”.
Meanwhile, another woman said that she was present since 7 am yesterday with her daughter, 17. “She get sickle cell, we observe it about two weeks now and this a second time she a come clinic. Now is 10 (am) and no doctor na come yet, them nurse tell we we have to wait…This is the situation at the hospital”, she stated.
Another protestor, Milton Payne, of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, explained that his main purpose at the protest yesterday was to call for the resignation of Director Stephens.
The man said his 29-year-old son who is paralyzed is a patient at the hospital’s clinic. “The situation here is very low, they hardly have any treatment for patient who come here, look tomorrow I have a son who can’t walk to come here and we got to study what treatment they gon get to give and what we gon got to find money to buy,” he stated.
Another protestor, Balram Dhiram, of Adelphi Settlement, East Canje Berbice, alleged that his aunt succumbed to her heart condition at the New Amsterdam Public Hospi-tal due to the negligence of those tasked with her care.
Oxygen
He noted that around 7.10 pm on Tuesday evening, he rushed his aunt to the
institution. “She is a heart patient and she heart start pain she, so we bring she and explain and tell the doctor and ask if them can’t carry she and give she oxygen, them say they have one oxygen and the next woman is on it,” he related.
He further explained that after waiting for close to 30 minutes, “The doctor go and give she nine injections within 20 minutes” and she later died. The man said that after he started to question the names of the injections and what they were for, he was asked to wait outside.
Dhiram further related that his aunt’s body was moved to the Arokium Funeral Parlour, since the hospital’s mortuary is not functioning presently. A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out sometime this week.
Stabroek News attempted to speak with the Director of Regional Health Services yesterday but was told that he is presently out of the country. This newspaper also visited the hospital’s CEO for a third time yesterday in order to give her an opportunity to explain and clarify the implementation of the hospital’s policies, so that residents can better understand and possibly offer suggestions to improve the new process. However, her secretary informed Stabroek News that she was unavailable to meet with the media, since she was in a meeting again.
Meanwhile, APNU Parliamentarian, Barbara Pilgrim, who was present at the hospital yesterday, stated that there is need for change and there is always resistance to change. However, she said, “The situation calls for dialogue and compromise because people’s lives are at risk”. She said she hopes that the ministry would intervene and sort out the issue because “This institution would either make or break the government”.
Regional Supervisor for PPP/C, Zamal Hussain, stated that the New Amsterdam Public Hospital is in a crisis and needs immediate attention, as he noted that patients who are not deemed an emergency case would have to wait a number of hours before receiving any sort of medical attention. “There are several new systems put in place at the New Amsterdam Hospital which are not conducive to the populace, persons who are in school uniform are being denied of the services at the New Amsterdam Hospital, the elderly are being denied,” he charged.
According to Hussain, who is also chairman of the region’s health committee, the CEO is not willing to report to the committee, as was done in the past, but rather she is reporting “directly to the Minister of Public Health”.
Additionally, he stated that the Regional Chairman, David Armogan, yesterday morning made attempts to reach out to the CEO to inform her that an ophthalmologist from the Georgetown Hospital would be willing to be in the region every Sunday to assist. “She refuse and directed the Regional Chairman to speak with the Minister of Health”.
Hussain added, “This is disrespect to the democracy of this country…couple days ago in the Guyana Chronicle, the government is boasting about the restoration of the local democracy in Guyana—this is just an editorial to fool the people of this country. They are disrespecting every level of government in Region Six”.
The protest action, which was organized by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, also saw the support from a member of the Federal United Party, attorney Chandra Sohan.
Meanwhile, two persons employed at the Health Inspection Office located below Director Stephens’ office were present yesterday taking photographs and laughing at the protestors. One inspection officer was heard telling the protestors that they were lying and that the slogan on their placard “was not true”.
After noticing media operatives taking their pictures, they quickly went into the hospital’s compound. Additionally, several staff attached to the hospital stopped what they were doing and stood for several minutes looking at the protest action.
