Chief Medical Officer to study report into death of mother and baby at NA hospital
Stabroek News
March 30, 2004
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Rudolph Cummings is to study a report compiled by the Regional Health Officer in New Amsterdam regarding the death of 38-year-old Kalowtie Punwasy at the hospital on February 4 after delivering a still-born child.
"We have collected reports from the doctor and nurses who were on duty that night," Regional Health Officer Dr Khalikapersaud told the Government Information Agency (GINA).
The woman's husband, Phillip Punwasy, a Berbice vendor, has claimed that his wife and child died at the New Amsterdam Hospital as a result of gross negligence by the nurses and doctor on duty.
GINA reported that Dr Cummings is to determine if anyone at the hospital in Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne) is to be blamed for the death of the woman and the baby. The woman of Lot 27 Lochaber, West Canje Berbice had two other children, ages 14 and 12.
When Stabroek News contacted the doctor who was on duty on the day of the woman's death, he told this newspaper that he was not allowed to speak to the media, adding that if the woman's relatives said he was negligent then the hospital needed to investigate the matter.
According to the woman's husband, the night before the woman's death she woke him up and told him that she was bleeding.
He said she was scheduled to give birth around that time. It was about 11 pm and with the help of two off-duty nurses in the area he took his wife to the hospital.
He said that he was not allowed to enter the hospital with his wife but was told the doctor was being called. However, he said he was later informed that the doctor never visited the hospital until 5 am and his wife died half an hour later.
The stillborn male child was delivered at around 4 am. Punwasy said his wife had seen the same doctor the Friday before she died and he had not told her of any complications with the pregnancy.