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The woman said her offspring was discharged from the institution three weeks later and given treatment in the form of a tablet which only prevented infection of the ailing organ.
She said, sometime later, the family had an echocardiogram conducted at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) and it found that the patient was suffering from the heart condition called ‘Tetralogy of Fallot’ (TOF).
Providing documentation from the GPH, she said it was recommended that they seek immediate attention for the child overseas.
TOF is a congenital heart defect which is classically understood to involve four anatomical abnormalities of that organ (although only three of them are always present). It is the most common cyanotic of such defects and the most cause of blue baby syndrome.
Igbal said about the time she got the advice, the Ministry of Health was approached and she was told, by officials there, that she can receive assistance in the form of US$2,000 or she could apply to Cabinet for the US$5,000 that was approved for such cases.
This application was made but she said, on realising it would take time for processing, she contacted Three Rivers Kids Foundation, in Thomas Lands, Georgetown, because of the emergency and had a meeting with the Office Manager, Ms. Lita Gayadine.
ADDITIONAL FUNDS
Igbal said, after they met in September 2011, Gayadine said the entity was going to help her get the additional funds needed to make the operation possible.
At that stage, US$6,500 was required for the operation, G$600,000 for air fare and G$100,000 spending money while they await the completion of the surgery and recovery. It was expected that the child would have been operated upon at the Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, India.
Igbal said, up to this week, she was given all assurances, by Gayadine, that Three Rivers would have provided the funding but, on Monday, the latter called to inform that the child would be unable to make the trip to India, this month end as planned. He would, therefore, have to wait until February 2014.
The angry mother related that she had taken in the passports of herself and son and G$33,000, as requested by Gayadine and done everything else she was required to do to make the trip and the surgery in India happen.
Previously, she had been told that her son and another child would have been travelling to India this month end to have the surgery done in September this year. But, even as Gayadine dropped the bombshell, she learnt that the other patient would still be making the journey to India.
Igbal said Gayadine was always rude to her and other relatives and had hung up the telephone on them twice during conversations. On other occasions, she would make appointments with them and they would be shocked to find she is not in office when they arrived.
Igbal said she had received a promise from the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) that another cheque, for which she had made a request, was available.
So far, she has gotten the US$5,000 from the Ministry of Health and, consequently, advised the CIOG that she only required US$1,500 more.
BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY
Calling Gayadine “a very heartless individual” she said she wished “the heavens should open and rain fire and brimstone on the woman.”
On being contacted, Gayadine said the Igbal family seemed to have problems since their very first meeting.
She said, while the mother of the child appeared ready to await the procedures associated with such a transaction, her father, on the other hand, was always “pushy and outright rude on several occasions.”
Gayadine said the family was never on time for appointments and would not answer the phone at the numbers provided whenever their appointments could not be kept.
She said, many times, she had to be calling their home at nights, to explain that they needed to make arrangements for ensuring the procedure was speeded up and, on one occasion, when she called; she got a “royal cuss out” from a female relative who alleged that she was slowing up the process.
She added that, while the family kept saying they had turned up for appointments after she left the office, the groundsman, every time, denied their claims since he was on the premises all the time.
She said, regardless of the fact that she appealed to the family, letting them know that their irresponsibility was affecting important appointments even with the High Commission, they had continued to ignore her pleas.
She said, as a result of their attitude, she contacted her overseas counterpart who, eventually, had no alternative but to advise that she return their passports and other documents since they were making it impossible for the entity to effectively process their application or assist the ailing child.
