A barber was on Saturday night forced to deliver a baby boy after there was no one to attend to the mother at the CC Nicholson Hospital, Nabacalis, East Coast Demerara.
Owner of the Nabacalis Barber Shop Devon (only name given) told Stabroek News yesterday that he was pushed into action after he saw the woman on the ground and the baby’s head protruding.
He recounted that he was about to close up his barber‘s shop when he saw a man he knows approaching him with his pregnant partner who asked him if he knew any nurse in the area. Devon said he told the man to go to the hospital but he informed him that he had been there but the gate was closed and no one was responding to his calls.
As he spoke the barber said the women braced herself against one of the walls of the shop and then shortly after she slid to the ground, and he caught sight of the baby’s head protruding. Her partner panicked and appeared immobile and the young barber said he was forced to take charge of the situation.
“I run to she and tell she put she foot up and I take a towel and put it under she; then I tell she breathe in and push. When she do that the baby start coming out and I tell she breathe in and push again, and more of the baby come out. So I tell she ‘Good breathe and push one more time,’” the young man told Stabroek News via phone.
The last push resulted in a boy baby coming into the world, but the barber’s job was not yet over.
“When the baby come out it didn’t cry so I lash he on his foot and he start to cry,” Devon said.
He went on to relate that as he was doing what needs to be done, he gave the baby to a young woman who was standing watching, and he told her to hold him since he needed help to clip the umbilical cord.
The man said he ran to the homes of at least two midwives who are known in the area, but they were not at home and this frightened him.
“I say like this girl guh dead here because I don’t know how to cut the cord, but then I went to the home of a nurse not far from the shop and she come and cut the cord and we put them in a taxi and send them to the hospital,” he said.
The woman and her partner are believed to have travelled from Ann‘s Grove to the Nabacalis hospital and according to Devon both mother and son are in good health.
“Is the first time I see a baby born and I tell dem boys that woman ain’t get it easy; I respect women fuh making children. It was a good experience – not a pretty sight but a good experience,” the barber said hours afterwards.
Meanwhile, at least one resident was critical about the fact that the hospital’s gate was closed and not one person was on call. The resident, a male, contacted this newspaper and indicated that the incident happened mere minutes after he had viewed a news story about a health fair that was held at the hospital on Saturday.
“I watched the news and how deh talking about the hospital and how good it is and soon after you hear a pregnant woman went to the hospital and no one there to deliver the baby. Not even the guard was there at the time,” the resident lamented.
He indicated that at least two midwives were contacted and one said she did not have the key to the hospital and was at the time taking care of her mother, while the other said she was too tired from the fair to respond. According to the resident a daughter of a retired midwife got married on Saturday and many of the staff members were at the wedding, but he commented that someone should have been on call.
The residents also attempted to get an ambulance from the Melanie Health Centre, but the phone rang out, while when they contacted the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) they were told that the lone ambulance there was unavailable.
