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Reply to "Issues in the Health Sector in Guyana"

GPHC admits poor communications in maternity death
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has acknowledged that there was a breakdown in communication between some healthcare practitioners and the family of 21-year-old Shinella Clarke, who died on September 6, 2011 at the facility after undergoing a surgery. According to Michael Khan, Chief Executive Officer, after reading Kaieteur News article entitled ‘Berbice family stunned by young girl’s death at GPHC’ he summoned all senior staff of the hospital’s Gynecology Department to a meeting. The CEO related that during that meeting it was discovered that there was insufficient communication between the practitioners and the aggrieved family.

Khan asserted that he reminded the practitioners of the importance of proper communication with family members especially those who passed away at the facility. He emphasized that just a few words can go a far way in consoling family members. He pointed out that with proper communication about circumstances surrounding the patient’s aliment or death could prevent family members from involving the media. “This is not to say that the hospital is opposing a family of any patient the right to contact the media,” Khan noted.

The CEO stated that Clarke was referred from the Skeldon Hospital to New Amsterdam Hospital to GPHC on September 6, 2011. She arrived at the facility at 01:13h for management of abdominal tenderness with guarding, and query for ruptured Ectopic pregnancy. He said that Clarke was operated on and after surgery her condition was critical. She was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It was noted that Clarke was provided with four (4) units of packed cells. The young woman subsequently died.

When Clarke’s relatives contacted Kaieteur News they related their frustration about several issues but focused primarily on the fact that the hospital did not inform them of Clarke’s death. They related that after hours of waiting and inquiring about the woman’s condition for about the third time then they were told that Clarke had died.

Source
FM
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