RONALD Walcott, said to be a ‘junkie’ (drug addict), was thwarted during a suicidal plunge from a window of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) last Tuesday but he succumbed just before midnight Sunday at the institution after reportedly being denied meals for over a week.
However, it is still not known why he was not served any meals during that time, nor was he being given saline, according to fellow patients in the Male Surgical Ward.
The man had surgery just over a week ago and was warded at the hospital for about ten days. But after becoming frustrated with the treatment he was receiving, he said he wanted to die and made about three suicide bids.
Asked why he wanted to die, he said he had become frustrated since he had already spent more than a week in hospital and was never given medication. He then began calling for a gun or knife. “Is six days since ah deh in dis place and can’ get a tablet to drink…I ain’t getting no treatment, suh ah wan dead,” he bemoaned.
But this newspaper was shocked to learn two days later that the man had not been served with meals for the duration of his stay in Room 3 of the Male Surgical Ward.
On Friday, September 11, this newspaper was present when around 18:00hrs a nurse entered the ward and distributed food to the patients. She walked around the ward, deliberately avoiding Walcott even though his eyes began dancing with excitement at the thought of getting a box of food.
This reporter asked her whether the patient was on special diet since she had not given him anything to eat. She replied affirmatively and went outside and brought a Styrofoam cup with something in it. She chucked it onto the cupboard and walked away. This reporter also asked her how was he going to get it since he was bound hand and feet and was prostrate on the bed and could not reach the cupboard.
The nurse replied that it was her time to come off duty, adding that the incoming nurse would look after him. It was then that the other patients in the ward, disappointed and out of compassion, disclosed to this newspaper: “Dat man deh in hay over a week now and never get anything to eat.”
He was dehydrated and kept crying out for help. Needless to say, he was never fed what was brought for him in the cup and it had to be thrown out the following day.
The first episode in his suicide attempts was early last Tuesday afternoon when he sneaked out of the ward and attempted to drown himself in a deep-water drain outside the Procurement Stores in the hospital compound. However, he was taken back to the ward by porters and restrained on a bed in Room 3.
Again, around 15:45 hrs, he sneaked into another ward, climbed onto the window sill about twenty-five feet above ground and was half way through when he was spotted and snatched to safety by porters.
The man threw himself on the floor and began vomiting fluids. Then he began shouting: “Ah want a gun; ah want a knife.” Asked why he wanted gun or knife, he repeated, “…I ain’t getting treatment suh ah wan’ dead.”
This matter was reported to the Chief Executive Officer (ag.), Mr. Allan Johnson who promised to launch an investigation.
Walcott was often seen around Bourda Market transporting goods for stallholders in a hand cart, which was his means of earning an income.

By Shirley Thomas