Doctors attempt to kick down door at Diamond isolation facility

Shocking video of doctors kicking down the door of a room of a COVID-19 patient at the Isolation Unit at the Diamond Hospital was made public yesterday with patients expressing frustration that despite concerns continually being raised, the authorities continue to pay little heed and take minimal action.

The incident occurred on Saturday night. Stabroek News was told that the patient, who had been there for over two weeks, was retested that same day and objected to a new patient who had just arrived at Diamond after being tested positive for COVID-19, being placed in the same room. He consequently barricaded the room and refused to let anyone in. Subsequently, the doctors attempted to kick open the door but were unsuccessful.

“People, particularly those who have been here for several weeks, are afraid of cross-contamination. The doctors warn us of this. The risk is that persons with a high viral load can cause virus levels in a person who has a low viral load to rise once there is contamination and recovery will take longer. There are many people here who test negative one day and positive a few days later,” one patient explained.

The video shows two doctors attempting to kick down the door. Subsequently, several patients intervened and went to the barricaded door. At that point, one doctor noticed that another patient was filming and grabbed the phone. Stabroek News was told that the phone was damaged in the process and there was a brief scuffle and the patient was ordered to delete the video.

After the ruckus, the new patient was eventually placed with others who had arrived the previous day.

However, the matter did not end there.

Yesterday, patients were not served breakfast until after 11am and they believe that it was because of the previous night’s incident. Most refused to collect the breakfast and those who took the meal said it was spoiled. One patient explained that breakfast usually arrives around 6am at the quarters of the medical team, who then serve the meal. The patients are prohibited from going to that section.

The relative of one patient, who spoke to this newspaper via telephone said, “They served sour porridge and spoil provisions. The food was cold and when they opened it, it wasn’t good for anything. My family (name provided) was crying of hunger.” The man said that his wife cried as she reported the situation to him as they had little else to eat. 

“My concern is that there are children here, there is a woman with a one-year-old child, there is a pregnant woman, there is an elderly woman. Some persons suffer from underlying conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes, and so on and for health reasons, it is important that they get their meals by a certain time,” the patient explained. “Denying these people food crossed a line. The situation shouldn’t have had to reach this stage, “ another patient said.

However, the patient said that the medical team should not be solely blamed.

“While kicking down the door was ill-advised, in a way I understand the frustration of the doctors. I don’t blame them really. It’s difficult to have to listen to complaints daily and then report to your supervisors but the supervisors don’t act. And I know they are aware of the issues here but they would rather paint a false picture for the public,” the patient said.

“I emphasise, many of the frontline team are doing a good job. There are a few who don’t but on the whole the medical teams do their jobs professionally. The issue is that their supervisors outside, their administrators who are not part of the frontline team and those at a higher level don’t seem to listen to them. I mean, the patients make reasonable requests on issues which can be solved quite easily and at no great cost but the people higher up don’t seem to care, not for the medical teams and certainly not for the patients. When this is over, there needs to be an investigation into the response,” the patient said.

Stabroek News was unable to contact the person in charge of the Diamond Isolation Unit, Dr Y Benjamin.

Yesterday, upset about the conditions, some patients expressed their concerns when doctors arrived to take their vital signs. One man, reacting to a comment from one doctor, stormed out the room “yelling various things”. The doctors left. “The patient kept shouting for several minutes. For those patients who didn’t have their vitals taken, this was not done for the day,” one patient recounted.  “I don’t quite agree with what he did, shouting and all that but I understood because the authorities don’t seem to take simple recommendations on board,” the patient added.

“One of the key things is that newly arrived patients should not be placed with those who have been here for weeks. There should be a system where there is a section for new patients who can then be shifted once others have been discharged. People want to recover and go home but if you notice the negative then positive results this is taking a long time,” the patient said.

Stabroek News had reported two Sundays ago on the situation at the Isolation Unit at Diamond. Among the issues faced were cramped quarters, shortages of masks and cleaning products, and disruption of the water supply, among others.

Yesterday, other patients spoke out again. “It is not the treatment by the frontline staff but the conditions under which we have to stay…how can you get better when you have to wear the same mask for three days, you are not given clean linen every day, the bathroom has to be shared by four different patients with different symptoms and not enough sanitizing agents are there? Just how?” one patient questioned.

“There is a Dr. Gravesande and his team has a Cuban doctor and we cannot complain about that team at all. There is another team too and they are good. But there is a Doctor (name given). He doesn’t seem to have feelings for any of the patients. He treats people like pigs and is behave so arrogant when you try to talk to him and ask questions. No one wants him to treat them,” the patient added.

Regional Health Officer of Demerara/Mahaica (Region Four) Dr. Quincy Jones had replied to the Stabroek News’ article saying that at Diamond they are handling the majority of COVID-19 patients.

Stabroek News understands that though the majority of the COVID-19 patients are housed at Diamond, it is the Georgetown Public Hospital that receives most of the supplies. 

The patients are hoping that with the recent incident the authorities move swiftly to investigate and bring relief to an already unbearable situation for the sick. (Video for this story is available at www.stabroeknews.com)