The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is calling for visitors and patients who witnessed the incidents leading up to the death of Somatti Singh, to make contact with the hospital Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan.

Singh, of Mahaicony Creek, died on Monday evening after she was forced to walk to the washroom instead of being given a bedpan which she had repeatedly asked for, according to relatives. Singh had given birth on Saturday and doctors had detected a pre-existing heart condition requiring her to wear an oxygen mask at all times.

In a statement yesterday, the hospital said that relatives had submitted statements to the hospital’s Internal Security Department and a thorough investigation into the incident was being conducted.

The statement added that the Patient Care Assistant and the Registered Nurse, who were on duty in the Maternity Ward at the time, have been given leave pending the findings of the investigation.

The post-mortem examination performed on Singh revealed that she had suffered from Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. Director of Medical and Professional Services at the hospital, Dr Madan Rambarran had previously told Stabroek News that such a condition is not curable except possibly via a heart and lung transplant and that the clinical opinion was that the patient’s prognosis was always poor.

Singh’s body was released for burial and family members told Stabroek News that she will be cremated on Monday at the Good Hope crematorium.

The dead mother’s premature baby boy weighs approximately 1 and a half kilogrammes and remains under hospital care, according to the statement. Dr Rambarran expressed his condolences on behalf of the GPHC to Singh’s family.