Dr Khan and public health officials should take immediate steps to formulate a sensible policy for emergency treatment of non citizens and ensure that it is clearly communicated to all staff at those facilities. The priority should be on providing life-saving measures in life-threatening situations, not on ability to pay. Needless delays in administering emergency care are often the difference between life and death.
The death of Jeetindra Sookram, a Guyanese visitor who is said to have been denied urgent medical attention at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt Hope, last Thursday highlights the flaws in the policy for emergency care of non-citizens at public hospitals.From the sequence of events described by Mr Sookram's common-law wife, Vidya Bachu, it appears staff at EWMSC were either not familiar with the policy, or failed to communicate it clearly to family members and friends who accompanied him to the hospital. Subsequently, after enduring an agonising wait for treatment that he never received at EWMSC, Mr Sookram died before he could get to a private medical clinic.
Mr Sookram, 35, a farmer, was rushed to the hospital with severe chest pains, but was not treated. His wife says this was because medical staff wanted to ensure that his relatives filled out and signed a form agreeing to bear the financial cost of his care. If so, this is unacceptable.Ms Bachu said she was told by a female member of staff they would have to pay for all medical services because Sookram was not a T&T citizen.
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