Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony yesterday directed all questions in the case of the woman who had a leg amputated following an accident during her hospitalisation to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), while questioning why she and her family spoke to the media about what occurred.
Fifty-six-year-old Padminie Mc Rae’s left leg from above the knee was amputated last month following an accident in the Infectious Diseases Hospital’s transition ward at Liliendaal, as she grabbed on to an oxygen tank in an effort to break a fall that occurred when she attempted to retrieve some of her personal items from the floor.
The woman and her husband, Nelroy Mc Rae, are appealing for assistance from the Ministry of Health and ultimately the government as their lives have been drastically changed forever and they lamented that they have been treated shabbily in their quest for help.
When contacted yesterday, Dr. Anthony said that the Infectious Diseases Hospital falls under the GPH and that there is an office set up at that hospital to deal with such matters. A source had told Stabroek News that while the Liliendaal hospital is staffed by personnel from GPH it comes under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Health.
According to the Minister of Health, if the family wants the matter to be dealt with properly then they would engage the office at GPH.
And while he said that it is the right of the family, if they wanted, to make the matter public, he did not understand why the family had to make public statements in the media when there is an office for them to go to deal with the issue.
“I am not sure why they are making this into a public statement — and that is their right — but I am sure if they go to the hospital where there is an office it would be dealt with,” he said.
Nelroy Mc Rae said it was never the family’s intention to speak to the media but they have become frustrated over the way they have been treated that they felt they had no other options but to make the matter public.
The family has been engaging officials at the GPH but they said that they were unhappy with the manner in which the matter has been dealt with and this had seen them making direct contact with officials at the ministry. They have indicated that they need some form of financial assistance, pointing out that they were forced to purchase items for the woman’s foot to be treated at the health centre and when this was told to officials they were given a roll of bandaging material. A wheelchair was donated to the woman by a church.
In confirming that the woman’s leg was indeed amputated, GPH’s Head of Strategic Planning and Communications Chelauna Providence has said that she could not address the issue of compensation for the family as that is a matter for the ministry. Providence said as far as possible the hospital has been assisting the family and will continue to do so as her leg heals. She stressed that while they can assist with care, the family’s request for compensation is outside of the hospital’s mandate.
‘Words in my mouth’
Meanwhile, asked if as the minister he was not concerned about the case and whether he wants to publicly say something to the family, Anthony accused the Stabroek News reporter of attempting to put words in his mouth and once again repeated that there is a procedure for the matter to be dealt with.
“You are calling me about a story about a woman, which I think you have written about and I am saying to you that this matter falls under the Georgetown Hospital and there is an office there that can deal with the matter…,” the minister maintained.
Told that the family has been meeting with the hospital officials, the minister said he is not sure of this.
“I don’t know what kind of monster is this…they know is their fault. Come on Mr Minister, say something. We need compensation. We need something. This is horrible. What happen to my wife? She walk in good, good and now she come back without her foot… Do something! Say something! Is like I wrong and me ain’t want say sorry…,” Nelroy had said on Monday as tears streamed down his face.
It was a direct appeal he made to Anthony and late yesterday afternoon the man said he was surprised that no one from the ministry had reached out to them as all they needed was help.
“I am just depressed right now… it is because of the hospital negligence that make this happen to me… It is like I went in hell…,” a weeping Padminie McRae had said on Monday.
“Right now, I am very emotional because I went in there with both feet and I come out back with one…,” she had further said as she continued to weep.
On March 19th an antibody COVID-19 test was administered to the woman at Woodlands Hospital, which showed she was positive and she was referred to the GPH, which later transferred her to the Liliendaal facility. A PCR swab was done on Tuesday, March 23, after the woman’s toes were amputated and the same night her leg was also removed, and it revealed that she was COVID-19 negative. As a result, she was later transferred to the GPH’s High Dependency Unit (HDU).
False positives can occur with authorised antigen tests and as a result PCR tests are standard for confirming COVID cases. Padminie had visited the Woodlands Hospital on March 19 because she had a high fever and her tonsils were inflamed.
The woman said she assisted her husband in selling chickens they reared but now she is unable to help him.
“The pressure is on us because I can’t bring in income. I got a mortgage to pay, a huge mortgage. People might come and say yeah, he get a nice house, [but] is money I borrow… I never expected this and this heartbreaking. This is to send people mad. And all is carelessness and negligence of these people,” Nelroy Mc Rae had said on Monday.
