Broken bones, head wounds

MORE THAN 20 male patients ranging in ages from 27 years to 41 years old were treated yesterday at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for injuries sustained after scaffolding collapsed at the construction site of the Customs and Excise building, Richmond Street.

Health Minister John Rahael said, “all who needed x-rays had their x-rays done. All of the patients have been stabilised and they have been warded.”

He said one was taken to theatre for surgery and any others who needed surgery had to be stabi- lised.

Dr Suresh Pooran, administrator/consultant for the Accident and Emergency department said most of the injuries were orthopaedic injuries — compound fractures of the leg bones — tibia and femur. He said, “they are all stable and up on the wards.”

Pooran said some patients were discharged with minor injuries while about four or five with major orthopaedic injuries will be hospitalised “for quite some time.”

He said further surgery may be required for some and their rehabilitation “may be quite lengthy.”

He said two workers were taken for CT scans at Marli Street Clinic because of mild head injuries.

Rahael praised the doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and attendants working together to treat the patients.

He said, “the matter is a serious one however, it could have been a lot more serious that we have to say thank God no one has lost their lives so far and I am hopeful no one will.”

Worried relatives hurried to the PoSGH yesterday to find out the status of relatives who were injured at the construction site.

Alanna Ravello, the wife of 35-year-old Mark Lutchman from Arima, said she heard about the accident from her brother-in-law. Speaking to the media outside the accident and Emergency Department of the PoSGH, Ravello said, “I heard he had a broken leg.”

The hospital also contacted her but provided no details. She was very worried about his condition.

Keisha Jack was contacted when her friend Hayden Peters, who lives in Caledonia, was injured. His hips and legs were broken since he fell from the top of the scaffolding which was ten storeys from the ground. He was one of the patients sent for a CT Scan. “He was supposed to go for surgery but they were not clear about his injuries so they sent him for the scan,” Jack said. She also explained that further testing was done to see if “anything was punctured.”

The relatives of Glen Innis, his sister Dalia Sobers and mother Hazel Innis, were waiting for word on his condition from doctors for several hours. They got to the hospital at about 11 am and at 2 pm still had not received an update. Sobers said, “nobody telling us anything.”