Patient dies at Georgetown hospital after left unattended for hours

Stabroek News – May 4, 2008

Pandemonium broke out at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) just before dark yesterday when a patient who had been deemed an emergency case and rushed there from the Leonora Cottage Hospital earlier in the day passed away, after she allegedly did not receive medical attention from the staff on duty.

Dead is 28-year-old Basmattie Balkarran, a mother of three children, of Ruby Backdam, Parika, East Bank Essequibo. Relatives and many others at the hospital loudly voiced their disapproval with the service at the institution and claimed that the woman had been diagnosed at Leonora hospital as being in a critical condition and in need of a higher level of treatment than it could provide.

Balkarran’s sisters and brothers wailed loudly at the hospital. They said their sister had been rushed to Georgetown and arrived at the GPH at 10 am, but had not been attended to until they started complaining and pleading with the nurses to take her into the emergency room some time after 4 pm. The woman died around 6 last evening.  

Repeat pregnancy in HIV+ women worrying – UG students

Kaieteur News – May 2, 2008

A group of University of Guyana students has expressed concern over the trend of HIV-infected women having repeat pregnancies.

Under the guidance of Lecturer Monica Miller, six social workers, all of them students, conducted a seminar at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen Campus to address the issue.

The interactive session was held in the Cheddi Bharrat Jagan (CBJ) Lecture Hall and attracted an audience of mainly women of child-bearing age.

The students, Marlon Agrippa, Shaundell Shipley, Romel Richmond, Melissa Phillips, Charmine Walters and Natasha Dundas, made several recommendations to tackle the problem.

Shaundell Shipley, who works in the healthcare sector, pointed out that with support from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), women with HIV feel encouraged to lead normal lives. Shipley said she met with several mothers at a treatment site and discovered that they do not give thought to repeat pregnancies.  

Bajan Breakthrough – 25 years of legal abortions

Stabroek News – April 29, 2008
(Reprinted from T&T Review – March 3, 2008 )
By Sanka Price

As a politician there are some issues that no matter what decision you make, you are certain to anger a significant segment of the population.

One such issue is the legalisation of abortion.

You’re damned if you support it, and you damn others to suffering if you don’t.

Abortion is an issue that has strong religious, medical, and social arguments for and against it. And each side thinks they are correct.

Those who favour the right of a woman to decide if she should have an abortion are “pro-choice”. They see their goal as the empowerment of women, and the need to stop the death, disability, disfigurement and debilitating conditions scores of women endure from botched, ‘back street’ abortions.

Equally strong views are presented by those who maintain that once there is conception the emphasis must be on preserving the life of the foetus. They argue that although a woman has a right over her own body, she has no medical or legal right over the foetus because it is a separate individual with its own DNA, blood supply, and maybe, even a different blood type.

Mother fails in attempted suicide after giving birth

- fell unconscious to ground after jumping through three-storey high window at Georgetown Public Hospital

Guyana Chronicle – April 26, 2008

A WOMAN, believed to be suffering from post-natal depression, yesterday failed in an attempted suicide after jumping through a window in the three-storey high Maternity Ward at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).

Barbara Nurse, of Kuru Kururu, along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, had given birth on Thursday and was conversing with other patients on the third floor when she suddenly made the leap.

Fortunately, however, she fell on a shed before hitting the ground and only injured an ankle.

Her suicidal bid having been thwarted, it was reported that the 20-year-old had been speaking about taking her life earlier in the day.

The report said the mother wanted to kill her baby, too, but the child was previously taken into the custody by doctors.

But, as soon as the doctors left the room in which they all were, the woman made the effort to kill herself. (Telesha Persaud)

Health sector requires partnerships to realise MDGs

Kaieteur News – April 22, 2008

The media, as a partner with the health sector, has a critical role to play in understanding health issues before disseminating these to the public.

This is the view of local Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Representative Dr Kathleen Israel.
Dr Israel was at the time commenting on the efforts that are being made to ensure that countries of the Americas are able to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are aimed at reducing maternal and child health deaths by 2015.

According to the PAHO Representative, the Government by itself can in no way introduce and implement effectively all of the measures that are needed to be taken in order to realise the MDGs or any other public health goals.

She pointed out that there is always need for partnership, and added that it was for this reason that PAHO’s temporary Consultant, Dr Patricio Jamriska, had travelled to Guyana last week.  

Workshop plugs quality maternal care

Stabroek News – April 21, 2008

Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that he believes that Guyana is not too poor a nation to achieve its goal of a 75 percent reduction in maternity deaths by 2015.

Speaking at the Advance in Labour and Risk Management (Alarm) international course on Obstetrician and Gynaecology workshop held at Cara Lodge last Friday, the health minister asserted, “I do not believe that when it comes to maternal child health care that a child born in Albion must be worse off than a child born in Canada.”

The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that the objective of the workshop is to improve the health and status of women and their new born by advancing awareness and respect of sexual and reproductive rights of women among health care workers.

It also aims to increase the availability of competent and quality medical care by sensitizing health care workers to deliver quality maternal and new born care services.