Inhumane treatment as

A 30-year-old woman whose twin sister lost part of her face when a runaway car ploughed into four persons at St Augustine on Sunday, is accusing employees at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) of treating the accident victims in an inhumane manner.

Anisha Sankar told Newsday yesterday that her sister Alisha is now fighting for her life at Port-of-Spain General Hospital after being transferred there from the EWMSC, but believes if doctors and nurses at the Mt Hope facility had done their jobs on Sunday, her sister’s chance of survival would have been better.

Yesterday, Health Minister John Rahael asked the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) for a report on the complaints made by the relatives of the accident victims.

Yolande Agard, acting communications manager for the NCRHA, said the matter is being investigated by acting complex manager Davlin Thomas and a report is expected to be made available today.

On Sunday afternoon, 43-year-old Juliet Bedessie, her 11-year old nephew Lorenzo Lodai, and Alisha Sankar, 30, left their Dry River Road, St Augustine home with Chandrawatee Pooran.

The four were standing at the corner of Orange Grove Road, Tacarigua, when a car swerved into them. They were all thrown into a drain covered in black mud.

Bedessie died on the spot, while the three others were taken to the EWMSC.

Anisha said when they got to the medical facility some nurses refused to attend to the accident victims because they had mud on them.

She said the nurses began conversing in Spanish, leaving her with no choice but to use tissue paper to wipe away the mud from the victims.

No doctors came to the assistance of the three, she said.

After waiting to be attended, a doctor ordered that Alisha, whose face was badly cut away, be transferred to Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

Pooran was taken to a nursing home in Tunapuna by frustrated relatives, while Lodai was warded at the EWMSC.