Negligence at GPHC almost led to death of young mother

By Bibi Khatoon

A family is blaming the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for almost causing the death of their 20-year-old daughter and her unborn child after performing a wrong surgery on the young lady recently.

It is not the first time that the Georgetown Public Hospital has come in for criticisms for negligence, but it would seem that nothing has changed.

Davya Singh, of Lot 13, Third Street, Better Hope South, East Coast Demerara, related to the News Room that she visited the health facility on Friday (September 08, 2017) after noticing an abscess between her legs which was causing significant amount of pain.

She noted that upon arrival at the hospital, she visited the ‘Outpatient’ section and was referred to the Emergency department. Even though she was in immense pain, the pregnant woman was told to sit and wait her turn until an assistant noticed her and offered a wheel chair. Singh said she was then forwarded to the Maternity Ward where she was told the doctors will tend to her.

“When ah go, is like about ten or eleven doctors around me. They say they have to cut it. Ah asked them if they gon numb it, they say no, they won’t numb it. They just cut it and they put a tube inside and the tube that they put, they say I have to leave it in for 14 days. They stitch in back the tube and it paining and paining and paining and when I come home, it keep swelling more and more,” the woman recounted.

Singh, who is seven months pregnant, alleged that the doctors who tended to her were all trainees, adding that after inserting the tube, they gave her panadol and sent her home.

As the pain continued into Saturday morning, the woman was taken to a private doctor whom she said discovered that the doctors at GPHC had operated on the wrong part of her body.

She said after consistently crying out for pain and observing a bad scent, her mother asked to take her to the hospital. “When they kerr me, they took me to the hospital (St Joseph Mercy Hospital), when ah go, she said this is bad news…she said ah cudda die with it if ah did leave it one more day. It was already septic,” she outlined.

The woman eventually underwent surgery and is being treated at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital.

Thinking of how he almost lost his daughter, the young woman’s father, Sukhdeo Singh was teary eyed when he pointed out that the public hospital needs to do better.

“This thing start blood poison she…These doctors at public, they don’t examine you properly. They need to get a senior doctor with these young people them because is a set of young people and them nah check she properly. Me daughter cudda lose she life, she’s only 20,” he told News Room.

Davya was discharged from the private hospital on Monday.Though she is unable to use the washroom, the woman is now grateful that herself and baby are healthy.