By Kristen Macklingam
The body of a stillborn baby was discovered earlier this week wrapped in red plastic in a public hospital compound by patients who were waiting to be attended to by health workers.
Reports are that a stray dog had dragged it out of a garbage bin that was being used to dispose of hospital waste and refuse and carried the bag with the premature dead baby to an empty location.
The animal then began ripping through the bag when persons noticed what was happening and raised an alarm, notifying hospital staff of what was transpiring, and scaring the dog away.
INews understands that the mother of the baby was under observation in one of the wards at the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital, commonly referred to as the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, when the incident took place.
According to a source, the woman had delivered a stillborn baby over the weekend and she was fully aware of the fact that her child had died.
The dead baby was wrapped and then placed in a biohazard bag (a red plastic for infectious waste, body fluids etc) by hospital staff and was awaiting proper disposal.
However, the baby was improperly disposed with regular garbage in a large garbage container (bin) in the hospital compound.
“As usual the neighbouring animals, the cats and dogs, would usually tumble through the garbage and the baby’s body was pulled from the garbage into the yard. Other patients that were waiting to see the doctor noticed and started taking pictures. Some of them brought it to the nurses’ attention but nobody knows who placed the baby in the garbage,” the source explained.
Efforts to contact the Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton, and the hospital administration for a comment on the matter today proved futile.
This is another sordid indicator that all is not kosher with the soul of Guyana – the half baked society.