The husband of Beverly Bumbury, the pregnant woman who died during the wee hours of Sunday morning while en route to the hospital, is calling for a probe into what he says was a refusal by a health worker to offer medical care to his wife before her death.
The 40-year-old woman, a mother of seven of Bonasika, Lower Essequibo River, was eight months pregnant with twins when she died.
According to the police, the woman was en route to a hospital when she lost consciousness and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Leonora Cottage Hospital. A post-mortem examination later confirmed that she died as a result of brain haemorrhaging due to high blood pressure.
This newspaper was unsuccessful in contacting health authorities in the region on whether the woman’s death is being investigated.
Ray Bumbury, a 45-year-old farmer, told Stabroek News that at about 9 O’clock last Saturday night, his wife complained about discomfort. They were already in bed but he suggested that they go to the hospital. “I told her we will come out to the hospital. She said yes and I ask her if she want to go to the health centre. She said no,” Bumbury said.
He said to get to the landing they had to take a boat. When they arrived at Hubu landing, the taxi-driver they had called to wait on them suggested that they should go to the health hut, to which they agreed. But when they arrived there, Bumbury said, the health worker there did not want to help his wife. He related that the health worker refused to look at the woman and told them it seemed to be a matter for the police. He said they went back to the car and that by this time his boss had met with them and again he was advised to seek the health official’s assistance. He said that he explained to her what had just transpired and that she took it upon herself to speak to the health worker, who again refused. “Mistress [his boss] beg this lady and tell she, she must check this lady [his wife] and tell we what really wrong ’cause we nah know what really wrong to she. We said she go know but she refuse to come, telling we its police matter and we got to call police and one set of long story,” the man recalled.
Bumbury said after being turned down, they decided to make their way to Parika, where they summoned the police, who assisted with getting the woman to the hospital. “From there we came down West Side and go to Parika, we didn’t getting no help. The lady [his boss] had to call she son to go to Parika Station to make a report. He go and he make a report and then police came down. When they reach… they ask what happen and we tell them,” Bumbury said.
He recounted that the police informed him that there was a possibility that the twins could be delivered safely and with that hope in mind, his wife was taken into the police vehicle to be escorted to the Leonora Cottage Hospital. The man solemnly said that his wife passed while journeying to the hospital.
Bumbury blames the health workers for not assisting his wife in the way she needed to be assisted. He called on the relevant authorities to look into the matter. “It rough on me right now. So the government or who, them got to link into that because it hurt bad for me,” Bumbury said.
He also noted that his wife had hypertension and was receiving treatment at the health centre at Bonasika. However, he said that they were unable to visit for checkups as the centre is some distance away from their home. The man added that because of his work, he could not make the trip to the centre twice a day to get the checks done. He said that he explained the situation to a health worker at the centre and after she explained that the government provides the care free of cost, she agreed to go to their home instead. But he said the health worker did not make the visits on a daily basis. “She want we must drive every day to go by her but I work and I have to do my work so I can’t afford that. So when I tell she, she said she going to come but she don’t come every day,” Bumbury told this newspaper. “If the health worker did checking on she, this thing won’t have happened. But she didn’t checking on she, that’s why that happen… I lose my wife and my children,” the grieving man said.
He further said that now that his wife has passed, it will be very hard for him to raise the seven children they had together by himself. He added that his older daughters help with looking after their younger siblings but that he is currently not coping well with his wife’s death.
