Doctors and nurses attached to the Oscar Joseph hospital at Charity, in Region Two, are fearful after two patients were recently attacked in separate incidents at the facility.
In one incident, a man from Charity took his girlfriend to the hospital after she suffered a laceration to her arm. This newspaper was told that while nurses tried to clean her up and set up IV lines, the man took one of the blades from a tray and wounded her and ran out. The couple was said to be highly intoxicated.
Nurses also discovered several stab wounds about the woman’s body. This newspaper understands that no report was made at any police stations on the Essequibo Coast. The couple is reported to be back together.
More recently, on Monday last, there was yet another incident at the hospital where a young man was injured. This newspaper was told that a gang of young men from Charity, armed with knives, rushed into the hospital. They ran into the paediatric ward and hid at one point. They eventually found the person they were looking for and stabbed him.
Hospital workers called for the security guards that were on duty but none of them showed up. A doctor then tried calling the Charity Police Station but claimed the phone went unanswered. A doctor related that she had to call a police officer from Anna Regina to send a patrol.
“We were all fearful for our lives. We had to hide from the gang and then the patient was lying in a pool of blood. We tried calling the internal security and they never came. We need police officers at the hospital. We are scared [for] our lives,” the doctor, who did not want to be named, said. Hospital workers are calling for frequent police patrols around the hospital or for a police officer to be placed permanently at the facility.
Senior officials at the hospital told this newspaper that they are aware of the episodes and an investigation has been launched.
