By Joseph Allen
A total of nine students from the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory who had to be air-dashed to Georgetown suffering from burns and severe smoke inhalation from the fire that consumed the female dormitory are currently hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC].
The number of students hospitalized rose from an initial six after three more students had to be evacuated yesterday.
A statement from the GPHC said that two students are in the Intensive Care Unit [ICU], suffering from severe smoke inhalation which led to cardiac arrest. One student suffered burns to her face but is in stable condition. The hospital reported that the one student underwent a successful limb-saving surgery. Three students are in the paediatric ward with burns about their bodies that are not considered life threatening. Apart from those hospitalized at the GPHC, an additional 12 students remain hospitalized at the Mahdia Cottage Hospital receiving treatment for minor injuries.
Following initial reports of the fire which started just before midnight on Sunday, President Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, GDF Chief of Staff Omar Khan and National Security Advisor Captain Gerry Gouveia among others, converged at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle to co-ordinate the government’s emergency response. A medical evacuation team was assembled to head into Mahdia to treat, and if possible, bring back critical patients in need of specialized medical attention.
In addition to the medical evacuation team, which included an ER specialist, the Emergency Medical Technicians [EMT], members of the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force were at the Eugene F Correia airport to provide additional support. Pilots who were rostered to aid in the medevac, had to navigate bad weather en route to Mahdia as well as landing on the town’s airstrip which lacks lights to facilitate night landings.
Following a short meeting designed to ensure a smooth coordinated operation, five planes departed as soon as the weather permitted. Amongst the fleet was a GDF aircraft bearing Phillips, Manickchand, Benn and members of the emergency response team. At the airport, the President and team waited with other emergency medical team and transport, GDF and police.
The first plane landed at the Eugene F Correia airport in the early hours of the morning with three critically injured patients on board.
Upon arrival, one patient had to be administered Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for approximately ten minutes, and upon stabilization was immediately transported in one of the waiting ambulance to the GPHC. The two other patients were also transported in separate ambulances. The second medevac arrived just after 6 am with three more patients who were immediately escorted to the hospital.
Dr. Shilindra Rajkumar, a doctor from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation who was part of the medevac team commended the medical staff of the Mahdia Cottage Hospital for their response at a time when it seemed that the disaster threatened to overwhelm.
“The staff of Mahdia did an amazing job with the resources that they had. It is quite amazing what they have achieved with what they had available. They brought true comradeship and humanity. All staff came on board… all hands were on deck,” Dr. Rajkumar said
Describing the Mahdia Cottage Hospital as a small hospital and Mahdia a developing town, Dr. Rajkumar said it was not expected that they [the town and hospital] will have all the facilities. Dr. Rajkumar said the response to a challenge of such magnitude was exemplary as even the Georgetown Hospital would have been overwhelmed. Despite a job well-done, Dr. Rajkumar said post-traumatic stress counselling will be needed. That counselling, according Dr. Vindhya Persaud, Minister of Human Services and Social Security will come as a team is being put together. “We are also creating a team to deal with the psychological aspects of all of this.
Persaud said a combined team consisting of the Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of Health, the GPHC Psychology Unit, the Ministry of Human Services, the Child Care and Protection Agency and Welfare officers will head to Mahdia to treat survivors, those suffering from trauma, including parents and family members who also have to deal with that trauma.
