A Bloomfield man is now mourning the loss of his wife and baby at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital over the weekend.
When Sunil Partab, 28, of Lot 85 Bloomfield Village, Corentyne, accompanied his wife, Devi Samaroo, 24, to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital on Friday afternoon for the birth of their second child, he never expected to leave there without her and their baby girl.
The couple had one daughter, 6, already and Samaroo’s pregnancy for their second child had been normal. The 24-year-old was in perfect health, her husband relayed today.
However, Saturday morning when Partab and his mother-in-law, Mahendrawattie Sewnauth went to visit his wife they were informed that she had delivered a stillbirth baby.
A grieving Partab said that he was confused as his wife and his baby were both healthy during the pregnancy. “When they admit her the night they run tests and she was okay and the baby heartbeat was there and so”, he relayed.
At that point, he then requested to view his baby and to have a word with the doctor who was in charge of the delivery.
“I wanted to find out what happen but they kept saying I can’t get that information that them just take over shift and they don’t know. I walk all over the hospital to find out the doctor name and to meet with him but them saying they can’t give he name how they following the rules so I ask them who make those rules let me meet that person because I want to find out what exactly happen”, he said.
He then returned to visit his wife but was not allowed to do so until hours after when they finally wheeled her out of the labour room to the ward. “She tell me she na know what happen, how she feel swingy, swingy and the baby come out and now she na able walk or move and do nothing.”
Based on what Samaroo reported to her husband she delivered her baby around 3 am on Saturday. When Partab was able to meet with a doctor he was told that “the baby deliver dead but when my mother-in-law check the baby napkin it had mess so I don’t know how that.”
Sewnauth told Stabroek News that the last time she saw her daughter was when she was being taken from the labour room to the ward Saturday midday.
The woman recalled that Saturday morning, “When me go labour room and rap pon the door them collect a bag from me and say me can’t talk with she and so me a wait and then one nurse come and me tell she me want see Devi Samaroo and she say me can’t talk with am, me can’t see am so me come home and go back for (midday visit).”
According to the woman, her daughter while in the wheelchair being moved to the ward on Saturday midday seemed confused and quiet, “Me deh ask she wah do you girl? Wah do you? And she say them doctor tell am say the pickney dead.”
This was just the start of the family’s worries, as this morning they were informed that Samaroo had died at the hospital as well, a message which left all of them in a state of shock as they had no indication that there was any serious complication during the delivery.
A devastated Partab said today, that all he was told when he visited the hospital after receiving the message was that his wife had suffered haemorrhaging and she had succumbed.
He noted that he was told to return to the hospital tomorrow for the post-mortem examinations which will be carried out on both Samaroo and her baby girl.
Calls by Stabroek News to the Regional Health Officer, Dr Vishalya Sharma, went unanswered today. However, in a message circulated to the media by the Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, it was noted that an investigation had been launched and they were awaiting the findings.
Partab today said that he is awaiting the results of the autopsies as he called for the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation.
He said his wife, whose due date was late Tuesday, was admitted to the hospital in a healthy condition, stressing again that there were no issues highlighted during admission.
However, he noted that last Thursday the woman had a bit of fever and was taken to the Port Mourant Hospital where she was given two injections and a bag of saline and she recovered fully.
The man said while he does not want to cast blame until he receives the autopsy reports, he does believe that the health professionals at the hospital handled the situation very poorly as they failed to properly communicate with them about what was transpiring among other things.
Partab said, “I feel sad she dead and gone. Them na tell me nothing really. Them na treat patients good in that hospital, them don’t treat them good… Them na even tell we what happening”, the young father said as he started to cry.
