The West Demerara Regional Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) failed to report the death of a baby hours after he was born on January 18, 2022.
The matter was only brought to the attention of the Chief Medical Officer Dr Narine Singh from reports in the press and as such, an investigation has been launched.
This is according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony who explained that it is important for hospitals to report to the Ministry, within an appropriate timeframe, when these incidents occur.
In this case, the Ministry was unaware of the incident until reports in the press on January 31.
“Unfortunately, we did not receive any such report from the relevant hospital and the authorities in the region. But having seen the report, I have asked the Chief Medical Officer along with technical staff of the Ministry of Health to go West Demerara Hospital and launch an investigation as to what transpired in this particular case and to look at what recommendations can be made to ensure that the system is improved,” Dr Anthony said.
A postmortem found that the newborn died as a result of perinatal asphyxia, respiratory distress and mutli-organ failure. Perinatal asphyxia is referred to as a lack of blood flow or gas exchange to or from the fetus in the period immediately before, during, or after the birth process.
According to the Health Minister, a team is presently stationed at the West Demerara Regional Hospital in order to facilitate the probe. Upon completion, Dr Anthony assured that he will act upon the recommendations.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the recommendations and then implementing them,” he expressed.
Family members have claimed that it was the hospital’s negligence that resulted in the baby’s demise.
