By Fareeza Haniff
Nineteen-month-old Kayden Munroe was a healthy baby boy until he took his Yellow Fever and MMR vaccines at the Den Amstel Health Centre on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) on Tuesday, March 5.
He died two days later at the West Demerara Regional Hospital better known as the ‘Best Hospital’ at Vreed-en-Hoop, WCD.
And his grandmother is alleging gross negligence on the part of the doctors and nurses who reportedly did not take her complaints seriously and took a lengthy time before they examined the baby boy.
Devi Munroe told the News Room on Friday that after Kayden took his shots, they went home and he developed a fever, but this is expected after being vaccinated.
On Wednesday, however, the fever worsened and she took him to the Leonora Diagnostic Centre where the health officials there gave him Panadol syrup and sent him home.
But Kayden’s situation got worse; on Thursday, he vomited multiple times, and started to “pant for breath,” his grandmother said. She decided to take him to a pharmacy and clinic in her village at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo where the doctor there said he had “tapered breathing” and encouraged Devi to rush him to the West Demerara Hospital.
Devi arrived at the public hospital at around 20:00 hrs and went straight to the emergency room. The doctor “sounded him” and according to Devi, they said “nothing is wrong with him and that he is breathing fine.”
According to Devi, she was then told to sit and wait her turn while the nurse compiled her chart.
Devi said she waited for almost an hour during which Kayden’s limbs started to get cold and they turned blue.
“I told them this baby is turning blue and I keep begging them to help me see a doctor but they keep telling me I have to wait my turn.
“I said doctor please, I need you to look after my baby, he is not breathing properly, the baby is panting for breath,” a distraught Devi said.
The health officials finally acquiesced and Kayden was put on oxygen; after some 10 minutes, he was taken for an X-ray. Kayden died just after the X-ray at around 23:45 hrs.
“After the X-ray, he was not breathing. They started doing CPR and hooking him up to the machine but by then, my baby was gone,” a crying Devi told the News Room.
She blames the hospital for his death and wants a full investigation to be done.
“I can’t see how a healthy baby could die. He was running around and playing before taking his vaccines.
“After he got vaccinated, he kept crying out for pain. Imagine, my grandson couldn’t turn his body left or right; I had to keep turning him.”
When contacted, Dr Erica Forte, the Regional Health Officer, told the News Room that an internal investigation has already been launched into the circumstances leading to the baby boy’s death.
Senior health officials from the hospital met with Devi on Friday and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday, March 11.
Dr Forte said the Ministry of Health will be fully briefed on the findings of the investigation.
Kayden’s teen mother died just over a year ago; his grandmother has been taking care of him since.
My deepest sympathy goes out to Devi, Kayden’s grand mother and other relatives on his recent demise. He has gone so soon. May his young soul rest in peace.
I do hope the postmortem result will reveal the cause of death to prevent any speculations which may emerge from the news report .
I am indeed distraught at the demise of this child just as the parents and other relatives but at the same time would like a thorough independent investigation into this matter to prevent situations such as this one.