– relatives call for investigation into doctor’s alleged negligence

RELATIVES of an accident victim who were told that their loved one had only one hour to live are calling on the Ministry of Public Health to launch a thorough investigation into the operations at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH).

Their call came after a female doctor who attended to accident victim, Bisham Ramkishore, 24, on July 21 following an accident, allegedly resorted to her phone for a game of ‘Candy Crush’ and reportedly did not return to the patient after she had informed relatives that the young man was not going to live the night out.

Today, Kishore continues to breathe the air of life while recovering from injuries he sustained in the crash and for which he was treated after his relatives took a decision to transfer him to a private hospital.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday last, the young man’s grandmother Bibi Haleema Khan, related that after they saw three hours pass and the young man was still alive and crying out for pain while at the WDRH, they decided to summon an ambulance from Georgetown and had the 24-year-old transferred.

“And me and my daughter just stand up waiting for him to pass away, because she said that he is not going to make it and he blowing hard, hard and she ain’t doing nothing and we just stand up around him looking at him and then my son-in-law come and say let’s take this boy away from here, because this doctor ain’t doing nothing and then my son-in-law call the ambulance from Balwant Singh and we take him over there,” the grandmother explained.

The woman said the treatment of her grandson was uncaring, as the health workers only provided the grim prognosis and all family members were left to do was stand over the badly injured young man awaiting his demise.

She continued: “I feel if I had left my grandson there he would have died for true, because they are not doing anything there… they need to pull themselves up down there and help people when people go, you going for help down there.”

An aunt of the recovering accident victim also spoke about her experience on the same night at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

“I keep asking her how he doing and she keep saying he is not improving, he is not improving, he is very low and he is not going to make it and she was on her phone. She went back at her desk. Most of the time she was there playing ‘Candy Crush,’ while my nephew was on a stretcher hollering out for pain and I keep going to her,” said the aunt.
According to the relatives, as soon as they arrived at the Balwant Singh Hospital, medical attention was swift and continuous until the point where the young man began to regain consciousness and was subsequently discharged some 10 days after.

Bisham Ramkishore was the driver of a car which lost control along the Vreed-en-Hoop New Road and careened off the road, shattered a concrete median and brought down a sign board in front of the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company branch office in the area.
That accident resulted in the death of one of his friends and the hospitalisation of another, who was in the vehicle at the time.

That friend was admitted to hospital for a few days before being discharged after he was treated for lacerations about the body.

Ramkishore suffered a broken jaw, damaged brain cells, lost his hearing in one ear and had surgery done on the other.

No charges have yet been laid against Ramkishore for the death caused in the accident, even as relatives of the dead man reportedly indicated to the Ramkishore family that they wish not to have charges laid against the still traumatised young man. It was also relatives of the deceased and the other injured friend who assisted the family of Ramkishore with his hospital bills and have been constantly checking on him to ensure his full recovery.