JimO
Well-known member
Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,112375.html
How did these women die?
By Invera Arjoon Friday, December 11 2009
The families of at least two patients who died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) are demanding answers about the cause of death of their loved ones.
Yesterday, the husband of Suzette Hosein, a 30-year-old woman from Robertson Road, Princes Town, who died at the hospital on Tuesday, said he feels he is not being told the truth about his wife?s death.
According, to Fazeed Hosein, 31, his wife was healthy until she started to display flu-like symptoms on November 28.
After a visit to the Princes Town Health Facility on the same day she was administered two injections and given prescriptions to purchase tablets.
This, Hosein said, offered no relief to her fever, cough and cold so on December 2 she was taken to the SFGH where she spent one night at the medical extension ward before being transferred to the ICU. ?She was hooked up to a ventilator and despite my numerous questions to the doctors as to whether it was swine flu, I was told she had a lung infection.?
Hosein said he was told samples of swabs taken from his wife were sent to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the results would be received in three weeks. Acting SFGH medical director Dr Anand Chatergoon certified that the cause of death for Suzette Hosein was broncho pneumonia. But Hosein said he is not satisfied with the response since there were two other women warded at the ICU along with his wife and all were suffering similar symptoms. These women also died and their families have been told the cause of death was broncho pneumonia. They, however, believe the women died from Influenza A/H1N1, or swine flu.
One of these women was Lakshmi Pundit, the niece of UNC Princes Town MP Subash Panday, who was cremated on Wednesday, the same day as Suzette Hosein. Pundit, 30, lived at Sisters Road, Princes Town, which leads to Robertson Road.
A third person from the Sisters Road community is currently warded at the ICU at SFGH after displaying flu-like symptoms.
Panday yesterday said he and his family failed to get answers from the doctors at SFGH on what caused Pundit?s death last Friday.
?We could get nothing out of them, my niece was healthy and they said she died from pneumonia.?
He said his information is that at least 14 people have died within the last 31 days at the ICU. ?We are being told that almost no one who is warded at the ICU at SFGH is coming out alive.?
Panday said he plans to raise the issue in Parliament today and demand that an investigation be launched at SFGH to find out exactly how many people have died at the ICU from similar symptoms and wants CAREC to provide information on the results of swine flu tests.
?People are dying on a daily basis and being buried but why are there no results from CAREC? You cannot keep the families in the dark wondering what killed their loved ones,? Panday said.
He believes the Government is ?down playing the swine flu pandemic in this country and the truth needs to be revealed.?
Panday demanded to know why the government is not allowing the Influenza A/H1N1 vaccine to be administered to those in need. In addition to calling for an investigation to be launched into the deaths, he said he is also calling on the Health Ministry to vaccinate all the residents of Princes Town.
How did these women die?
By Invera Arjoon Friday, December 11 2009
The families of at least two patients who died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) are demanding answers about the cause of death of their loved ones.
Yesterday, the husband of Suzette Hosein, a 30-year-old woman from Robertson Road, Princes Town, who died at the hospital on Tuesday, said he feels he is not being told the truth about his wife?s death.
According, to Fazeed Hosein, 31, his wife was healthy until she started to display flu-like symptoms on November 28.
After a visit to the Princes Town Health Facility on the same day she was administered two injections and given prescriptions to purchase tablets.
This, Hosein said, offered no relief to her fever, cough and cold so on December 2 she was taken to the SFGH where she spent one night at the medical extension ward before being transferred to the ICU. ?She was hooked up to a ventilator and despite my numerous questions to the doctors as to whether it was swine flu, I was told she had a lung infection.?
Hosein said he was told samples of swabs taken from his wife were sent to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the results would be received in three weeks. Acting SFGH medical director Dr Anand Chatergoon certified that the cause of death for Suzette Hosein was broncho pneumonia. But Hosein said he is not satisfied with the response since there were two other women warded at the ICU along with his wife and all were suffering similar symptoms. These women also died and their families have been told the cause of death was broncho pneumonia. They, however, believe the women died from Influenza A/H1N1, or swine flu.
One of these women was Lakshmi Pundit, the niece of UNC Princes Town MP Subash Panday, who was cremated on Wednesday, the same day as Suzette Hosein. Pundit, 30, lived at Sisters Road, Princes Town, which leads to Robertson Road.
A third person from the Sisters Road community is currently warded at the ICU at SFGH after displaying flu-like symptoms.
Panday yesterday said he and his family failed to get answers from the doctors at SFGH on what caused Pundit?s death last Friday.
?We could get nothing out of them, my niece was healthy and they said she died from pneumonia.?
He said his information is that at least 14 people have died within the last 31 days at the ICU. ?We are being told that almost no one who is warded at the ICU at SFGH is coming out alive.?
Panday said he plans to raise the issue in Parliament today and demand that an investigation be launched at SFGH to find out exactly how many people have died at the ICU from similar symptoms and wants CAREC to provide information on the results of swine flu tests.
?People are dying on a daily basis and being buried but why are there no results from CAREC? You cannot keep the families in the dark wondering what killed their loved ones,? Panday said.
He believes the Government is ?down playing the swine flu pandemic in this country and the truth needs to be revealed.?
Panday demanded to know why the government is not allowing the Influenza A/H1N1 vaccine to be administered to those in need. In addition to calling for an investigation to be launched into the deaths, he said he is also calling on the Health Ministry to vaccinate all the residents of Princes Town.
