Burnham could have died at any hospital --widow


Stabroek News
August 22, 1999


Viola Burnham is of the opinion that her husband, Forbes Burnham, the first executive president of Guyana, might have died whether or not the operation during which he died had been performed at a hospital other than the Georgetown Hospital.

Answering questions on the one-hour interview programme 'One on One' hosted by veteran journalist, Cecil Griffith, Mrs Burnham revealed that though foreign medical specialists had given her husband the assurance that he was strong enough to undergo such an operation, at his death it was discovered that the walls of his heart were paper thin.

Mrs Burnham's disclosure about the condition of her husband was made in response to questions as to why he did not seek medical attention abroad.

She said that her husband felt that the operation during which he died at the Georgetown Hospital in 1985 "could be done here and in fact had been offered the services of a specialist, who travelled to Guyana for the operation.

"I can't say that they didn't know exactly what they were about. Perhaps nobody could have told what exactly his physical condition was and whether it could stand up to the surgery."

She said that it was well known that he had a heart condition but after all the tests he had done for longer than a five-year period, "he was told that he was... in good enough shape for an operation like that, but yet after the pathologists looked at him they said that the walls of his heart were paper thin despite the fact that the checks that were made outside the country had said he was in good shape."


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