GDF medic delivers baby on ferry

Aloma Roberts (seated at centre) with her newborn baby and ranks who conducted the medical transport.
Aloma Roberts (seated at centre) with her newborn baby and ranks who conducted the medical transport.

A Guyana Defence Force (GDF) medic successfully delivered a baby early yesterday morning aboard the MV Barima en route to Mabaruma, in Region One.

The delivery was done around 1.30 am yesterday after which the newborn and her mother, Aloma Roberts, a resident of Wauna, Region One, were transported to the Mabaruma Hospital by coastguards.

In a statement issued yesterday on their Facebook page, the GDF said Roberts went into labour about the vessel, which was several miles out in the Atlantic Ocean at the time.

“On-board the said vessel was a Guyana Defence Force patrol who quickly radioed the nearest Coast Guard outpost for assistance while the patrol’s medic, Lance Corporal Nickel Charles, delivered a healthy baby girl,” the statement said.

Roberts and her newborn were later transported to the Mabaruma Hospital via a GDF Coast Guard high speed patrol craft, which intercepted the ferry in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ranks of the said patrol returned to the hospital yesterday afternoon to check on the baby and her mother’s wellbeing, the statement added.