Diamond labourer died from stab wound to heart

Aug 14, 2010 News

---

– pregnant spouse still in custody

The pregnant housewife from Diamond New Scheme remained in custody yesterday, although police are still to find anything implicating her in her husband’s death by stabbing.
An autopsy conducted yesterday revealed that the victim, 38-year-old Alvin Kissoon, died from shock and hemorrhage due to perforation of the heart.
Police sources said that Kissoon’s left hand also bore stab wounds.
This has thrown some doubt on claims that he killed himself.
Another source noted that stabbing was not a common form of suicide.
The victim, a labourer of Section ‘C’ Diamond New Scheme, died at around 01:30 hrs on Thursday after being rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre with a stab wound to the chest.
Kissoon’s spouse alleged that he came home under the influence of alcohol and threatened to kill himself after revealing that he had lost his job.
The woman claimed that he inflicted injuries to his left foot with a knife and pushed her away when she tried to take the knife away. He reportedly then stabbed himself in the chest.
A sister of the dead man has told Kaieteur News that she entered the couple’s apartment after hearing his reputed wife screaming. She observed her brother slumping in a chair with a towel wrapped around his upper body.
Kissoon’s sister said that he was unable to speak and passed away shortly after at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
Police confirmed that the labourer was a heavy drinker and that he was detained several times for domestic violence.
A police source said he was also incarcerated for damage to property.
*******************************

Storage capacity improved as demand for blood grows

More surgeries are being undertaken, a situation which has resulted in the demand for more blood and blood products. Currently, the average demand from the hospitals has increased to between 800 and 900 units per month which according to the Minister leaves the capacity of the National Blood Transfusion Service below the recommended level. The normal target he said is around 600 units per month.
“The 600 units per month target that we had established was more than adequate a couple of years ago but since last year that figure has been barely meeting the demands. Now that very ambitious figure that people had doubted we could reach is now not enough.”
Fifteen hundred units are being touted as the new ambitious monthly target.
According to the Minister, the public health capacity is currently able to accommodate much more than the new target being requested.
There are the storage capacities at the blood bank and at various hospitals. In the past, blood was transferred directly from the bank to the hospitals, a practice which is currently being discontinued.
“This was allowed, so that any hour of the night or holidays that blood was needed, staff from the hospital could have gone to the blood bank, necessitating the blood bank being opened 24 hours, seven days a week. Whenever there was need for blood, a request was made to the blood bank and we have changed that…”
Dr. Ramsammy informed that the blood bank is no longer opened 24 hours a day, but now only operates Monday to Friday. It was for this reason, he said, that other small blood banks were introduced at hospitals to store blood already approved for usage.
Georgetown Hospital receives blood about three times per week. Other hospitals, however, are not always given the amounts that they need, as some do not have the storage capacity or there may not be enough to give.
But should private hospitals require blood during the bank’s closure, Dr Ramsammy noted that they can access same at the Georgetown Public Hospital. At the regional hospital, shipments are dispatched on a regular basis to ensure that sufficient amounts are available. “We should only be holding a small amount of blood at the blood bank because as we receive them, we would be sending them out…”
And since blood is not a product that can be procured, the Minister noted that there is the ever growing need for the voluntary assistance of the public.
“We can’t solve the problem by simply finding more money so we could buy the product, it is a product that we can only get from people donating. Therefore it is our task now to appeal to regular blood donors.”
However, the NBTS’s challenge is nestled in the fact that regular blood donors donate once per year.
Dr Ramsammy noted that in order to bolster the current situation, there is a need for persons to donate as regularly as they can – perhaps even two and three times per year would be more appropriate in terms of meeting the demands. Services should not be limited by the availability of blood even as capacity is being increased to provide surgery and other services, the minister stressed.
“We have to succeed in getting more people to donate blood and be able to collect blood more regularly. I am grateful to all the people and collaborators that have come out. Many churches, private sectors and even the media have collaborated with us to organise blood drives.”

---

---