Gaumattie Singh still in overseas hospital

Jul 16, 2008 News

… Husband annoyed with treatment received at local hospital

The husband of Gaumattie Singh, who was a recent victim of an acid attack, Khrishna Persaud, has bitterly complained about the treatment his wife received at a private hospital here in Guyana.

A few months ago, Gaumattie Singh, an attorney-at-law and a former member of the Alliance for Change, was attacked by an unknown assailant on Sheriff Street, while sitting in her car at a gas station. It was reported that the individual threw a corrosive substance in Singh’s face.

Singh was rushed to the private hospital in Georgetown for treatment. She is currently under intensive care at a hospital in Trinidad and Tobago. Her condition is said to be improving.

It was earlier reported that Singh might have lost her right eye as a result of the acid attack, but according to her husband, this is far from the truth.

He did admit that her right eye is badly damaged, but the doctors in Trinidad said that it is repairable.
As it is currently, Singh is seeing blurred images from the eye, but the doctors have assured that with surgery, her vision will be almost back to normal.

Singh’s husband is, however, peeved with some of the doctors at the private hospital here in Guyana for the kind of treatment that his wife received.

According to Persaud, when they arrived at the private institution after the acid attack, his wife was examined by a general surgeon, who treated her with the relevant medication, but at the same time, did not wash off the acid from Singh’s face.

The man said that he was informed by the Trinidadian doctors that the acid is supposed to be washed off from the face, since if this is not done, then it penetrates further in the skin and can cause further damages.

However, at the same private hospital, Persaud noted that the next day after the attack on his wife, the acid was still on her face and she was being taken for surgery by the general surgeon to “scrape it off”.
He added that he arrived at the institution just in time to stop the surgery from taking place.

Persaud told this newspaper that he related this incident to the doctors in Trinidad who told him that if this was done, then it would have left huge holes in her skin which could have been infected and as a result be deadly.

The doctor has declined to comment on the allegation, contending instead that the newspaper should check his credentials with the Guyana Medical Council.

When this newspaper asked the doctor if he was aware of Gaumattie Singh’s situation, he still refused to comment on the issue. He would not disclose any details as it related her condition while she was a patient at the private hospital.

It was the same private city hospital that was involved in a similar case last year, as it relates to Maria Da Silva, who was admitted for acute appendicitis.

She was admitted immediately after the doctor explained to her parents that a surgery was necessary and was performed by a general surgeon.

Although the surgery was reported to be successful, instead of having a small cut to her right side which is usually the case, the teenager had a long cut from her navel down to her pubis.

After the surgery, the teen started to develop several complications, and the parents were told by the general surgeon that it was normal.

After seven days with the same complications, the teen was still discharged from the hospital. Three days later she was rushed back to the emergency room of the same private hospital.

She was however examined by a different doctor, who informed the parents that the teen had peritonitis and would need an emergency operation.

This matter was eventually reported to the Guyana Medical Council and the parents had asked for an investigation to be carried out on the doctor who did the first operation.

Latest News