Patients play waiting game at Sando Accident & Emergency

Just over 20 patients waited anxiously yesterday both inside and outside the Accident and Emergency Ward at the San Fernando General Hospital for medical treatment.

Up to late yesterday, a woman who was grimacing in pain with an inflamed abscess in her buttocks and a young man whose left eye was pierced by a metal object, had not seen a doctor. The woman, Edith Boodram, from Moruga, said she had been waiting since 8am to see a doctor. She cannot sit down on her buttocks and therefore had to lie down on one of the benches outside of the A&E Department. She explained that she has already had surgery last week for her ailing buttocks but it became inflamed once again.

Also waiting to see a doctor was a woman with her 20-year-old nephew whose left eye was pierced by a metal object. The man cannot open his eye and according to his aunt, a doctor from the Gulf View Medical Complex told her to take him to the SFGH’s Accident and Emergency department for treatment. Although she relayed her nephew’s situation and submitted the letter from the Gulf View Medical Complex to the nurse at the counter, she said that she felt “nobody cares”. While some writhed in pain, others uttered words of disgust about the doctors who are staying away from the hospital. One woman in particular said that “the doctors want somebody to burn down this building” and questioned the relevance of her monthly Health Surcharge contributions.