Lethem teacher succumbs to COVID-19 complications

Jul 06, 2020 News

– GPHC denies she contracted virus at hospital

Donna Greaves

Officials from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) have refuted claims that 25-year-old Lethem teacher Donna Greaves contracted the virus while she was hospitalsied there.
Greaves succumbed at the GPHC’s Intensive Care Unit on Saturday and some of her relatives have claimed that she became infected at the GPHC.
But in a statement issued yesterday, the GPHC said the corporation “notes and wishes to refute claims that Donna Greaves contracted COVID-19 while being a patient at our institution.
Expressing condolences to the woman’s spouse, the release added that “while our commitment to medical confidentiality restricts us from sharing details of Ms. Greaves’ clinical records, we maintain that these claims are furthest from the facts, and wish to state in a definitive manner that Donna Greaves did not contract COVID-19 at the GPHC.
“We strongly condemn the proclivity to cast blame on our hard-working and dedicated doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers who continue to risk their lives daily to care for patients in the wake of a deadly pandemic. This practice of demoralizing healthcare professionals must cease.
“The Corporation continues to practice strict protocols and quality control measures to eliminate transmission and maintain a safe space for our staff, patients, and visitors.
“The GPHC wishes to implore all Guyanese that COVID-19 is real and changing the national trajectory of the pandemic lies heavily in our ability to strictly adhere to the precautionary guidelines.
“We also invite the media to confirm facts with the Corporation prior to publishing inflammatory and panic-inducing articles.”
In a telephone interview yesterday, Franklin Greaves, the woman’s husband, said that his wife was first admitted to the Lethem Regional Hospital on Thursday, June 25, where she was being treated for anemia, hypertension and other medical ailments. She was hospitalized for two days before being transferred to the GPHC, Mr. Greaves said.
“Before she left, she was screened by the doctors there, she did a rapid test (for COVID-19) and that came back negative.”
He said that a swab test was also done and his wife was transported to GPHC before the results were available.
“She never showed any signs of Covid-19; she experienced shortness of breath, but we were told that it was a complication of her low blood count and oxygen levels,” Greaves said.
“She kept crying out for a severe sore throat moments before being admitted to the ICU and kept saying that she needed cough syrup or lime to help.”
He said that while in the ICU, his wife’s previous test results returned negative for COVID-19. However, doctors conducted another test which revealed that the woman was positive for the virus.
Mr. Greaves also said that tests were conducted on family members as well as staff of the Lethem Regional Hospital, and that the tests all returned negative. He said that while his wife had taken all precautions, including wearing a mask, while she was at Lethem and on her way to Georgetown.
Mr. Greaves said that he will be contacting officials at GPHC for more information on his wife’s demise.

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