CHAIRMAN of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, was early yesterday morning medevac’d out of Region 7, after suffering a heart attack in the Marudi Mountains.

He has since been admitted to the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he is said to be out of any immediate danger, but will require surgery in the near future.
This was confirmed by Minister of Health, Dr BheriRamsaran, who yesterday, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, detailed the massive evacuation effort launched to have what he referred to as the ‘high-profile patient’ flown from out of the interior region.
Hughes, along with other members of the AFC, had travelled to the Marudi Mountains to interact with miners, when he reportedly suffered the cardiac arrest.
Dr Ramsaran recalled that he was on his way out from Corentyne, Berbice, following meetings with residents at Port Mourant, at about 19:30hrs Saturday, when he received a call from his Director of Regional Health Services Dr Irv Chan, informing him of the reported incident.
The minister said that immediately, efforts were made to firstly verify the accuracy of the report saying that he wanted to ensure that “someone wasn’t playing a sick joke.”
According to Dr Ramsaran, only recently there has been swirling reports involving the former leader of the political opposition, Robert Corbin, dying.
The Health Minister says within a short period, he along with Head of State Donald Ramotar, managed to confirm the report and a decision was taken to immediately have Hughes air-lifted out of the area.
He said that this was done despite the fact that shortly after 23:00hrs, a ‘messenger’ had come out of the area where the incident occurred and informed the health authorities that Hughes was feeling better and not keen on the medevac.
DrRamsaran said that the closet airstrip to where the incident occurred in the Marudi Mountains, is at Aishalton, and as such the ministry decided to immediately alert the Guyana Defence Force to aid in the operation, given its terrain.
The Health Minister said by 12:00hrs that evening, a medical team had been deployed from the Aishalton health facility, with a vehicle to retrieve Hughes, and have him travel out to the airstrip to await the arrival of the Roraima Airways plane that had been dispatched from the Ogle Airport.
He explained that simultaneously, a doctor from the Accident and Emergency Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), pilots Captains Gerry Gouveia and Paul Dalgetty, also of the Guyana Defence Force, along with other ranks had departed the Ogle International Airport for the mercy mission.
Dr Ramsaran said too that the ministry immediately deployed its resources‘on call’ at the Caribbean Heart Institute.
According to Ramsaran, the medical personnel that had been deployed to transport Hughes out to the airstrip at Aishalton, met up with him on the trail, by which time a private vehicle had begun to transport out the AFC Chairman, but had ‘broken down.’
Dr Ramsaran said nonetheless, the ministry is grateful, as the private vehicle did assist in cutting the time taken to get Hughes out to the airstrip.
The ranks of the Guyana Defence Force, along with medical personnel and equipment departed the Ogle Airport for the just over two and a half-hour flight, on Saturday evening, arriving at about 02:00hrs, Sunday .
Hughes arrived at the Aishalton airstrip about an hour later, according to the minister, by which time the medical team that had flown in from the city, immediately set about stabilising him for the more than two hours flight back to the capital city.
Dr Ramsaran said that in such cases, when the nature of the emergency centres on a heart-related issue, all precautionary measures are taken to ensure that the patient is stabilised and made ready for the flight.
“The team wanted to make sure he was transportable,” said Dr Ramsaran, adding that such a measure was even more critical given the nature of roads used to transport Hughes to the airstrip.
“It can be stressfull,” cautioned Dr Ramsaran.
The doctor that had flown in along with the pilots and GDF ranks, worked for just over an hour on Hughes while still on the airstrip, preparing the AFC Chairman to be airlifted.
The plane reportedly departed Aishalton at 04:42hrs and by 07:00hrs the Roraima Airways plane landed at the Ogle Airport.
Hughes was immediately whisked away to the CHI at the Georgetown Public Hospital in the ambulance that had been deployed and awaiting his arrival at the airport.
According to Dr Ramsaran, a team had also been placed on standby at CHI, throughout the night, and Hughes was immediately seen by the resident Cardiologist, Dr Mahendra Carpen.
The team confirmed that Hughes did in fact suffer a cardiac episode and indicated that surgery will have to be done in the near future.
According to the Health Minister, the surgical interventions required may be a bypass surgery, but a more specific intervention would be drawn up based on the tests being undertaken.
While not wanting to comment on what could have caused the heart failure, the Health Minister said that there can be a number of underlying factors, including hypertension among other ailments.
Dr Ramsarran said that throughout the ordeal, he and members of the ministry liaised with the wife of the AFC Chairman, Cathy Hughes, herself an executive member of the AFC and Member of Parliament, along with the party’s Vice-Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo.
He said that party leader Khemraj Ramjattan was also briefed on the status of Hughes subsequently.