A 74-year-old resident of Camp-bellville Housing Scheme who died as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Sunday suffered from multiple underlying health conditions.
According to GPH Public Relations Officer, Chelauna Providence, Milton Paul died at the GPH shortly after he was tested for COVID-19 on July 12. She informed that two days prior, Paul was brought to the Accident & Emergency Unit of the GPH and was admitted to the hospital. She said shortly before his death he was transferred to the transition ward due to the state of his condition.
She confirmed that the positive test results returned on Tuesday making Paul the latest and the 18th COVID-19 fatality.
Meanwhile, Paul’s wife, Janet Handy, revealed that Paul suffered from diabetes, asthma, and hypertension. She also revealed that he had a stroke a few days before she took him to the hospital. At that time, she said, it was not known that he had suffered a stroke but when he was taken to the Kitty Health Centre last Friday, the doctor informed her that he had had a stroke. She noted that before entering the health centre his temperature was taken and it was normal. The doctor subsequently checked his blood sugar, which was normal, and his blood pressure which was high, so he was given saline and some tablets for the pressure and was discharged.
However, upon arriving back at their home, Handy said Paul started suffering from shortness of breath and this continued throughout the day. She recalled that during that time, he called out to her once but soon after he could no longer speak. In addition, she said, because he was asthmatic, she assumed that he just needed his inhaler so she placed the inhaler to his mouth thinking that he was too weak to do so himself. He only inhaled once and then pushed it away, but according to Handy, the inhaler didn’t help.
“He still going [breathing] fast, fast, fast, and then we say that it is better that we carry him to the hospital and when we carry him they tek he,” Handy told Stabroek News
She recounted that she along with her neighbours took Paul to the GPH that very afternoon because he could not breathe properly. When they arrived at the hospital, she said, the doctors told her that he might be suffering from COVID-19. They then asked her if she was feeling sick and Handy responded that at that time she was not and as a result they continued writing up Paul’s information and took him to a ward.
Despite them saying that he might have COVID-19, Handy related, they did not tell her whether they were going to test him for the virus. However, they did tell her that they were going to perform a brain scan to find out why he was not speaking. After she filled up a form, she said the doctor told her that the procedure could no longer be carried out because Paul was too weak and was not responding to any treatment.
Handy recalled that she stayed at the hospital until 4 am on Saturday and during the night they kept telling her that he might have COVID-19 but they couldn’t conduct certain tests on him for fear of him infecting other patients in the ward in the event that he did have the disease.
After she left the hospital, Handy said she never heard anything from the staff or the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) up to the time when she spoke with Stabroek News. She said Paul’s son, Kevin, who lives in Berbice was the one to inform her of his death. In fact, she said, she was never informed that they were going to test him for the disease and was very surprised to learn that he died of COVID-19. She added that she had planned going to the Health Centre to find out if Paul had really died of COVID-19 but due to the area being flooded, she was unable to go.
Handy is wondering how Paul could’ve possibly caught the disease stressing that he never left their home. She believes that he might have caught it at the GPH. “He don’t walk and don’t come out of this house. He don’t come out of this house so I was just saying that if he get COVID-19 he had to pick it up at the hospital because they tek he and put he in the COVID-19 room. We didn’t tell them that he had COVID-19. That’s why I say he catch it at the hospital because all the time he deh hay suh good. I ain’t saying that what I say is right,” she contended.
Meanwhile, Paul’s son, Kevin, told Stabroek News that his father had been unwell for months but his condition had severely deteriorated during the weeks leading up to his death. Like Handy, Kevin stated that his father never left the house and he does not know where his father could’ve contracted the disease.
He added that when he was told that his father had died, the doctor who informed him said that they were uncertain at the time because they had tested him for COVID-19 just a few minutes before his death.
Kevin stated that although he knew that his father had been tested for COVID-19, when the results returned he was not informed but rather was told by a friend who saw it on social media. However, when he called to confirm it, he said, they told him that it was indeed true.
