A-Level student dies from dengue
Sacha Wilson
Published: 25 Aug 2010
Andrew Siewlall
Sacha Wilson
Relatives of an A-Level student, who died from dengue haemorrhagic fever have accused the two medical institutions that treated him of negligence. Siewlall Anirudh complained that his eldest son, Andrew, 18, had to wait hours for assistance, and to be admitted at the Couva Health Facility and the San Fernando General Hospital. Andrew, a former student of Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School, died around 8 am yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando hospital. His distraught father lamented: “If they know how serious dengue is they should not have patients waiting two and three hours without being attended to. “That was negligent on their part...My son went to the Couva Health Facility helpless and had to wait hours,” Anirudh complained. “Why do we have to go through this?”
Andrew, of Orange Field Road, Carapichaima, was taken to the health facility last week Monday after complaining of pain and fever. His aunt Omatie Sadick said he was sent home with panadol after they did a blood test which came back negative for dengue. He was told to return on Thursday. But on that day, the machine broke down so they returned home. Sadick said, however, that around 11 am, Andrew fainted and the ambulance took him to the health centre. “They stay for hours...He could not move, he was unconscious and they had us waiting there,” she said. “They told us it was not a serious case and is when the boy mother start to make noise they put him on drips.”
When he was transferred to the San Fernando hospital, she said: “We reach around 4 pm. We had to sit down and he black out again. It wasn’t until 3 am (Friday) he get a bed. “He could not do anything for himself...He used to be calling his mother (Nalene) all hours of the night to help him,” she added. An emotional Anirudh said his son had not yet collected his A-Level results and was also pursuing a triple diploma in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering at a school in Chaguanas. “He said ‘Dad, when I finish my A-Level, I want to go to UWI to do engineering,’” Anirudh said of the eldest of his four children. Andrew is the fourth person to have died from dengue in the country thus far.
SWRHA responds
Meanwhile, the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) says preliminary reports indicated that all dengue clinical protocols were adhered to. The authority has called for a comprehensive review of the patient’s treatment history, beginning from admission to primary healthcare and hospital facilities.
One night in piarco
