STAFF members at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) are once again under scrutiny after 35-year-old Jeetindra Sookram of Wakenaam Island in the Essequibo River in Guyana died of a suspected heart attack on Thursday, an hour after he had been denied treatment at that facility because he was not a T&T citizen.

The farmer was rushed to the Charlieville Medical Centre Ltd for treatment when he died in the back seat of a Nissan Navarra in the private clinic’s car park at Caroni Savannah Road in Chaguanas.

Doctors there said his symptoms suggested he suffered a massive heart attack, as he had complained about severe chest pains.

“I think it is negligence that caused him to not have a chance. I can’t understand how tourists can come into this country and get treated like this,” Sookram’s partner, Vidya Baichu said.

Baichu and Sookram had been on a two-week vacation in Trinidad, and were staying at their friend Melissa Deosaran’s home in Warren Road, Cunupia.

Chairman of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), Shehenaz Mohammed, has since instructed CEO Kumar Boodram to check the roster to identify which workers were on duty when the incident occurred. Mohammed said yesterday that Sookram’s family has been asked to provide the NCRHA with details of the incident, as an investigation has been launched. The incident comes weeks after baby Simeon Cottle’s death five hours after his mother, Quelly Ann Cottle, had undergone a C-section at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital.

Telling of the tragedy while waiting outside the San Fernando mortuary yesterday, Baichu said they were talking at Deosaran’s Central workplace, where they had been taken because Deosarran had to drop off something, when, at around 7.30 am, Sookram complained of a slight pain. Baichu said she gave Sookram two painkillers, believing he may have been tired from their travelling to Trinidad, but it did not help.

“He could not sit and he could not stand because the pain was getting to him more. It kept getting worse, so we took him to the hospital (EWMSC),” Baichu said. “When we got there, I went in with him, and they took him straight to the place where they took blood and did tests. When I went to register him now, they asked for ID, and I gave them his passport. They told me he is not a Trinidadian resident and so all the services (he would be given) we would have to pay for it. We asked them how much was the cost, they said they were not able to say, but whatever service they do, we would have to pay for it,” Baichu said.

Baichu is now calling on the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago to probe the incident. She is contending that if Sookram had received help at the hospital, he might still be alive. She said that even while Sookram was grimacing from the chest pains, EWMSC medical staff told him to take a seat while they tended to other patients.

Baichu said Sookram had had no known heart condition, and had never previously experienced chest pains. “I just want the Government to look into it, because a lot of Guyanese come across here on vacation…and this could happen to anybody. And the treatment that we got, I don’t want it for anybody else. I can’t understand how visitors can visit this country, go to the hospital, and can’t get help. Maybe if they did not send us away, maybe there was a chance that he would still be alive.

“I am upset because it is a public hospital. People go to Guyana and anybody could go to the hospital and get treatment. Nobody is charged. I can’t understand how, in a public hospital in this country, you have to pay for a service; and their negligence is what caused his death,” Baichu maintains.