“The worst part was being there and looking at my mommy feeling so uncomfortable on that hard, wooden bench. I know she was in pain and I couldn’t do nothing to help her. I felt very terrible about it but I was afraid to speak out because when you do that they want to penalize you and leave you at the back,” she said, pain etched on her face.
It was as if she was reliving the hours two weeks ago when she spent the entire day and way into the night with her 76-year-old mother at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Her mother has a kidney disorder and visits the hospital’s outpatient clinic, but on that day her regular doctor felt she needed emergency treatment. They arrived at the ER at around 11 am, but she was not seen until the evening.
I approached Alison, a mother of three, because I not only wanted to once again chronicle the various struggles women go through every day, but also to drive home the fact that seeking treatment at the GPHC continues to be a disaster. The government has changed, ministers have changed and even the management of the hospital has changed (twice in three years) but the ordinary man and woman still cannot access the most basic medical care at the hospital without a hassle.
