Another neonatal death rocks GPHC

Sumarie Balwant along with her husband and son during her pregnancy

– mother bedridden, family blames nurses’ negligence

An East Coast Demerara family is outraged at the attitude of nurses at the maternity ward of Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), claiming that their negligence has caused a woman, 34, to lose her baby.

Sumarie Balwant called “Shalinie” of Lot 640 Good Hope, ECD, was pregnant with her second child and had reached full term pregnancy when she went into labour. She was taken to GPH, where family members claim the nurses refused to deliver the baby, saying she was not ready, even though her amniotic sac commonly called ‘water bag’ had burst.

The family is alleging that because of the nurses’ negligence, the baby suffocated and died inside of Balwant.

Speaking with Guyana Times, the woman’s mother, Yungal Kumarie, explained that her daughter had to undergo a caesarean operation to deliver her first child, who is now four years old, and had joined the clinic at GPH during her second pregnancy. The woman said her daughter visited the clinic on Monday, which was her due date, and was told all is well with the baby and she would deliver any time soon.

“When she came home, she started getting pain so I told her if it continues we will go to the hospital in the morning (Tuesday). Early Tuesday morning we took her to GPH and she was admitted,” the mother recalled.

The woman went onto say the nurses took her daughter into the operation room and examined her but said she was not ready to deliver. Balwant remained in the hospital and according to her mother, her water bag burst the following day (Wednesday).

Kumarie told this newspaper her daughter had complained that she felt the baby coming out of her womb but was told by the nurses that she was still not ready.

She went on to say that later in the evening around 19:00h, one of her neighbours who knew someone at the hospital called there to find out if her daughter had delivered but was told Balwant was still in the ward.

Kumarie further stated that on Thursday morning at about 06:00h, the neighbour called the hospital and was told that Balwant’s baby had died ‘in her.’

“After we heard that, we rushed down to the hospital and she was still in the theatre room so I beg to see her and they send me in. She was lying flat on her back, couldn’t move and could barely talk because they had to give her an injection in her back to take the baby out. She said the baby died and ask to call her husband,” the woman recounted.

The mother added that when she returned later she saw her daughter in the ward but she was unable to move.

Kumarie said that Balwant told her that when the nurses were preparing her for delivery on Tuesday afternoon, they did not find any heartbeat and prevented her from informing her family.

“If they (nurses) had carried her to the operation theatre since Wednesday then my grandson would have been saved. Imagine my daughter tell these people that the baby coming down but they didn’t take her in, they wait till the baby dead and then take him out and then they have the mind to tell my daughter that she nah gone mek them get fired, This is the kind of people we have to deal with,” the angry woman vented.

Kumarie further remarked: “After my daughter come out the theatre and told us wha happen, I went upstairs to the nurses to find out what really happen and they held out that my daughter was not ready to go in labour. They not taking blame, your baby died but they aren’t concerned. This is not the first time something like this happen, you always hearing they making somebody baby die because of their negligence,” the grieving woman stated.

Balwant is still a patient but in a bed-ridden state at the GPH.

The Georgetown Public Hospital is also being sued by another distraught family whose baby also suffered injuries after a nurse allegedly dropped the newborn on the ground.

Guyana Times understands also that steps are being taken by another family to file a lawsuit against the Davis Memorial Hospital after a 33-year-old mother and her newborn child died allegedly at the hands of negligent nurses and hospital staff.

Meanwhile, Parbatee Ramdat, 29, of Reliance Village, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) is currently in the process of taking legal action against the Suddie Public Hospital after her newborn baby suffered a fractured shoulder and broken hand during delivery.