The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation is responding to another article which was published in the Saturday, February 6, 2010, edition of the Kaieteur News captioned “Another baby dies at GPHC, sparks rumours”. Following is the GPHC statement:
The article highlighted the case of Ms. Talisa Williams and Mr. Rosco Bascom whose one month old baby died at GPHC last week. Management reiterates that it puts a terribly negative light on the Corporation when aggrieved individuals whose loved ones die at the hospital express their plight first (and in some cases, only) to the media rather than the hospital’s administration, which only becomes aware of the complaint when it is read in the newspaper.
If Management is unaware of the situation, it is obviously not possible for an investigation to be launched.
With respect to Ms. Williams who claimed that after she was called to the mortuary… “[She] looked around [and] they were plenty dead babies – about fifteen; they all died over the weekend….” It must be made clear that this statement is baseless, reckless, sensational and mischievous, for as was previously stated by Dr. Madan Rambaran, Director of Medical and Professional Services, “only two infants from the Paediatric Ward had died during the period of January 28 to February 4, 2010.”
Management wishes to add that the number of bodies that Ms. Williams may have seen included still born babies and infant bodies from other institutions awaiting post mortems. In addition, there are abandoned corpses for which GPHC undertakes to provide what is termed ‘poor burials’.
It must be noted that for the year 2009, GPHC has provided 65 poor burials which cost the corporation $1,303,097. This is a major problem faced by GPHC when families do not claim their dead and GPHC is tasked with having to bury them.
With regards to the death of the baby, GPHC will, as is procedural, investigate and upon completion, release a statement.
Further, Management urges parents to closely monitor their children; and take them to the hospital or the nearest health center if they show any signs of illness. Please do not wait until the child becomes critical before you seek medical attention.