A 22-year-old mother of six lost one of her eyes and was recently discharged from the Suddie Hospital, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
The woman, Sunita Vandyke, was at the Suddie Hospital for several weeks after doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital removed one of her eyes without any proper explanation as to why her eye had to be removed when she has never had any medical complications with her eye.
Relatives are calling for a full investigation into the incident. According to relatives, the woman was admitted at the Suddie Hospital to give birth but everything went downhill after her delivery.
Vandyke’s mother-in-law, Phyllis Carter, told Inews that Vandyke delivered a healthy baby at the Suddie Hospital some seven weeks ago. She said that after the birth of the baby, her daughter-in-law went to her Parika residence, where she started to complain of feeling unwell. She said she took Vandyke to the Parika Health Centre, where the nurses administered saline.
She said that after receiving the saline, her daughter-in-law started complaining of blurred vision. “As soon as she get the saline and we go home, she started complaining with the eye,” she said.
Carter said after her daughter-in-law continued to complain about having blurred vision, she took her to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where doctors transferred her to the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
The woman said she was skeptical in taking Vandyke to the WDRH since she had previously sued that institution for the death of her grandson.
She said that they then visited the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation after the eye became worse and Vandyke’s condition worsened. “We meet GPHC emergency with the eye draining inflammation and the nose bleeding and they said that’s not an emergency and we waited several hours and were sent away without seeing a doctor. I even went to the boss upstairs to complain that we were not getting to see a doctor and still, we could [not] get help. We were sent away,” she said.
The frustrated Carter related that it was then that she visited the Ministry of Health to lodge a complaint and was directed to the Mercy Hospital and then redirected to the Eye Clinic at GPHC. When she arrived at the clinic, the doctors quickly admitted Vandyke for surgery to remove the eye. “Just so they say they gotta take out the eye. GPHC and West Dem sabotage my daughter-in-law. They did nothing to help. They never even checked the eye, and we need answers. This girl never had any eye problem” she added.
Carter called for a full investigation stating that Vandyke’s medical record will show that the woman did not suffer from any medical or eye conditions. Vandyke’s condition has since gotten worse as she is now unable to walk and has stopped speaking. On Monday, she was taken to the Leonora Hospital again, but due to the severity of her condition, she was referred to the GPHC.
The woman, Sunita Vandyke, is alleging that the negligence of staff at the Parika Health Centre, Leonora Cottage Hospital, the West Demerara Regional Hospital and Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation is responsible and called for a full investigation into the matter. Since the incident, the woman has been in and out of the hospital.
