…six siblings, grandfather hospitalised with similar symptoms
A nine-year-old girl is now dead and six of her siblings warded at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), after falling ill with suspected food-poisoning on Sunday.
An eighth person, their grandfather, Bhagwandie, 78, also called Labba, who also fell ill on Sunday is a patient at the Bartica Hospital.

Dead is Anna Dial, the sixth of seven siblings to Latchmin Dial and George Roberts of St. Mary’s Quarry, Essequibo. She was rushed to the Bartica Hospital, around 8:00hrs on Sunday, after complaining of feeling unwell, and succumbed around 11:00hrs relatives said. The symptoms include vomiting, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and nausea.

The other siblings hospitalized are Orvin Rupertie, 15; Juney Dial, 14; Wendy Dial, 13; Latchmi Dial, 10; Amanda Roberts, 7; and Akeisha Roberts, 5.   Fourteen-year-old Juney who seemed to be least affected, was transferred to the GPH where she is being monitored.

The Guyana Chronicle yesterday visited the children at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the GPH, where they were being treated and fed intravenously and monitored very closely. Some of them continued to complain of the symptoms.

The eldest brother, Orvin, recalled that the last thing they ate before the first child Anna, complained of feeling unwell, was a meal of fried chicken and rice.
After Anna’s condition began worsening, their mother left the others in Orvin’s and Juney’s care and rushed the sick child to hospital. Their father was at work.
Shortly after they left for the hospital, the others, including their grandfather, came down with the same symptoms of vomiting, abdominal pains, stomach cramps and diarrhea.

The children, all of whom are being closely monitored by doctors at the institution, arrived at the GPH around 13:00hrs Sunday and were kept under surveillance at the A&E Unit for the better part of the day, before being dispatched to the wards.

Meanwhile, the body of 9-year-old Anna is expected to be brought to Georgetown from Bartica today for a post mortem.