A 29-year-old miner is clinging to life at a city hospital, more than a month after he was brutally beaten and stabbed about his body during a robbery close to his Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo home.
Ron Rodrigues is presently warded at the Woodlands Hospital nursing a broken jaw, severe head injuries and multiple stab wounds including to his neck and face. His condition is listed as critical.
His father, Victor Rodrigues yesterday told the Sunday Stabroek that Ron has been hospitalised since the April 22nd attack. He was recently discharged but readmitted shortly after.
At present, Victor said that his son is bleeding internally and needs A- or O- blood types to save his life. He is therefore pleading with members of the public to donate blood.
“He need the blood because he is having internal bleeding and they [doctors] can’t go into him to do an operation. If they get the blood, then they will be able to do something but what the doctor told me is that the medication which was given to him, trigger off the bleeding. So we got to get this blood as soon as possible,” the distraught Victor said.
Victor related the events leading up to the robbery.
He said Ron had visited a shop in his area and was returning home, when three men pounced on him. “They beat him up a lot, they juk him up, they strangle him into unconsciousness and they thought he was dead so they left him on the road,” Victor said.
He recalled that the family was informed of the incident after his wife received a message informing her that Ron was killed. However, upon arrival at the scene, Victor said his wife noticed that Ron was still breathing.
He was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital after which he was transferred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) and then the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Whilst at the GPH, Victor said, Ron spent 24 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). “…he was unconscious for 23 days. He was in a coma for 23 days. They release him and he went into HDU [the High Dependency Unit] and he only spend a day and a half there and they discharge him,” he related.
Victor added that as a result of the injuries, a blood clot developed in Ron’s right leg which resulted in him being administered blood thinner. “…So as to thin the blood and he develop internal bleeding. Within a day, we had him back in the hospital. He went home Tuesday [May 21st] afternoon, Wednesday night he develop the bleeding. We had him in the hospital the following morning,” Victor said.
“We had him at West Dem [WDRH], tried to get him to Georgetown Hospital; they refuse to admit him there. Eventually, when his condition get worst, they did accept him…They had him down…he was supposed to go to ICU or HDU, they didn’t had any bed. So they had him down there doing nothing to him in Accident and Emergency,” he added.
Victor said, tired of being pushed around, he decided to move Ron to the Woodlands Hospital.
He said that he is not satisfied with the police probe into the matter. He said he learnt that a “main suspect” was arrested and subsequently released.
Contacted, Commander of ‘D’ Division Edmond Cooper told the Sunday Stabroek yesterday that he is not aware of the matter.
Cooper, however, said that he would welcome the relatives of the injured man at his office for an interaction.
Persons desirous of donating blood to Ron can contact Victor on telephone numbers 610 2000 or 602 1853.
