Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Probe to be launched into retired nurse’s death at COVID-19 hospital
Kaieteur News – The circumstances surrounding the death of a retired nurse at the COVID-19 infectious Diseases Hospital is set to be investigated. An official attached to the Ministry of Health told this newspaper that efforts are being made to inquire into the matter even as steps are underway to expand capacity at the Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara facility to accommodate the influx of COVID-19 patients.
Nurse Vanessa Maynard.
Family members of Vanessa Maynard, a 56-year-old retired nurse, who died at the COVID-19 Hospital on Thursday, had complained bitterly of the treatment meted out her at the facility. This newspaper was told that the nurse had been battling diabetes and, according to reports, had not received the COVID-19 vaccine at the time of her demise.
Nurse Maynard spent approximately 11 days at the COVID-19 facility before she succumbed to the illness. Her relatives had told a news conference on Friday that she was not being attended to regularly at the hospital. As a result, they said that she had resorted to paying the nurses to do small favours including warming her food and taking her to the bathroom.
According to the family, Nurse Maynard was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital on Sunday, August 29, 2021, after feeling unwell. A number of tests were conducted at the hospital and the following day, the nurse was transferred to the Liliendaal Hospital. At the time of the transfer, the patient was reportedly dealing with a foot ulcer that had to be taken care of. However when she arrived at the hospital, nurses took more than a day to clean the infected area.
After waiting for so long, Nurse Maynard reportedly told the staff at the Liliendaal Hospital that she would change the wound dressing herself if provided with the gauze and the iodine. “She told them, I am a nurse, just bring the gauze, just bring the iodine, I’ll do it myself, because when she opened the bandage, she saw that it was green. It had become infected,” her daughter had told the news conference.
Kaieteur News understands that since then, the hospital administration in anticipation of an increase in admissions over the next few days moved to boost its staff capacity with in excess of 20 nurses working per shift daily.
An additional 18 nurses have been reassigned to the Ocean View facility to assist with the management of patients. This is in addition to nine additional doctors who have joined the current compliment of 13 doctors who work per shift.
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