The administration of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) yesterday said they were forced to place Natasha Vieira, the young woman who was killed at the institution over the weekend, in the Observation Ward after their efforts to have her placed in a home failed.
And while regretting the manner in which she died, the administration said that the “only thing the GPHC is guilty of is trying to provide a home for the young lady.”
In a release yesterday afternoon the administration said it decided to “break its silence” on the issue because of “several articles containing inaccurate statements appearing in the press.” It was stated that initially the hospital’s administration in an effort to allow the police to do their investigation, made the decision to release very little information on the young woman’s death.
Vieira died early Saturday morning after she was reportedly thrown off her bed and choked by another inmate. A release from the hospital late Saturday afternoon had said the young woman was discovered with marks of violence around the neck and after being seen by a doctor she was pronounced dead at around 5 am the said morning.
Meanwhile, the police in their release had said Vieira was found lying on the floor next to her bed with blood oozing from her mouth and she had been lifted off her bed and thrown onto the floor.
According to the hospital’s release Vieira was taken to the GPHC’s Paediatric Ward in 1996 and remained at the institution since then.
“In fact, the GPHC only learnt her surname was Vieira when her mother visited for the first and only time in March 2007. Ms Jacqueline Vieira was next seen on Sunday, August 3, 2008 when she came enquiring about her daughter,” the hospital said.
The release said that as the child grew older it became apparent that she could no longer remain in the children’s ward for “various reasons.” It said several attempts were made by the administration, past and present, to have her placed in a home but they all proved fruitless.
“The decision was then made to house Ms Vieira in the Female Observation Ward,” the hospital said.
And the hospital also said that it has no record of the woman being abused while at the hospital. It said that her alleged attacker remains at the institution because she is receiving treatment.
The young woman’s mother had told Stabroek News that she had seen evidence of her daughter being abused while visiting her. She had said she had seen burns on the young woman on one visit and during another visit she observed bite marks on her breast. She had said when she asked the nurses about what she saw she was told that the patients usually “fight bad” and was also told that she should take her child as the nurses said they had enough of her.
The woman had denied that the first time she visited her daughter was last year. She admitted that it took some years to make her initial visit after the girl was left at the hospital because, according to her, she feared being incarcerated as she was told that the police were looking for her parents.
She said that the child was taken to the hospital by some friends she left her at when she went to seek employment in Kwakwani. She said when she made her first visit her daughter was already in the Observation Ward but she said that she visited five years after.
The woman said when she made her first visit her daughter remembered her and called her mommy. Natasha was nine when she was taken to the hospital. The girl’s mother said that since then she had made several visits to the hospital and taken items for her daughter. Her daughter was reportedly a lover of curry and she would cook the dish and take it for her from time to time. The woman said that as a single parent of two it was difficult for her to take care of Natasha who needed special treatment and she thought the hospital was the best place for her.
She said even though she feels guilty there was not much more she could have done and her daughter is better off where she is now since she no longer has to be abused. She told of the child being abused by friends and relatives she was forced to leave her with while seeking employment.
Meanwhile, the hospital has expressed condolences to Natasha’s family, adding that it would make no further comment on the issue until the police investigation is completed.
The girl’s body was handed over to her mother and the burial is expected to take place shortly.
