WORK OF A SICK MIND

The bomb threat earlier this week which led to the hurried evacuation of pregnant mothers, babies, nurses and other staff from the Maternity Department of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital was clearly the work of someone in desperate need of psychiatric help. The individual, who made the call placed not only expectant mothers but babies and mothers who had recently delivered, at risk. This included two women on the verge of delivering babies, and who had already been taken to the Maternity Department’s labour room. Patients, trainee midwives, nurses, nursing students and hospital attendants who were unable to access the crowded elevator had to scramble or in the case of babies be carried down two and three floors to safety. It was a potentially dangerous situation.

Of additional concern was the charge by one of the nurses on duty that “the hospital obviously does not have a disaster preparedness plan.” Had there been one the nurse would have known. And despite the statement by the Communications Manager of the North West Regional Health Authority that a plan existed there did not appear to be a drill in place for evacuating the Maternity Hospital in an emergency. Persons began rushing out, and as the nurse pointed out it was a good thing there were people there with initiative. Had there been a plan, clearly the staff would have been apprised.

Initial investigations by officers of the Belmont Police Station suggest that the person who made the hoax call may have done it from a telephone on the hospital compound. The terse comment from the Police was that it was believed to be an inside job. But inside job or not, is the hospital’s exchange not equipped with the technology which would enable its telephone operators to know telephone numbers from which calls are made? If this is so should the person receiving the call not have taken immediate steps to alert Security personnel and direct them to the location of the telephone? The Police statement with respect to the call having been an inside job would suggest that it had not been made from a cellular telephone. Were follow up investigations conducted to see whether it could have been determined who was in the vicinity of the telephone from which the hoax call was suspected to have come?

It is revolting that someone should have deliberately put mothers, expectant mothers, babies and staff through the horrific distress of Tuesday night. Suppose one of the expectant mothers had suddenly delivered, or someone had experienced a seizure? Or suppose an expectant mother or newly delivered mother in her anxiety to reach a safe point, disaster preparedness plan or not, stumbled. What if, as someone has put forward, there had been rainfall on Tuesday night, and newborn babies suddenly exposed to the rainy conditions? Tuesday’s crank call suggests the work of a mentally ill or criminal person. Efforts should be made, however, to determine who the person was who made the call, once this is feasible, and necessary and prompt action taken.