Two men die from gun wounds in buttocks and leg respectively

JULY 27, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

Canadian Jean Le Blanc was drinking with Ricardo Rodrigues, known associate of Roger Khan, at the motor racing club (whose clientele reminds you of colonial Guyana until the seventies when that clientele was no longer a feature of Guyana’s cultural landscape but the resuscitation is underway and why not) on Albert Street on Thomas Lands when gunmen invaded the club, and sprayed the place reminiscent of Chicago mob warfare in the US in the first half of the 20th century (see the Charles Bronson biopic, “The Valachi Papers’). Rodriques died instantly with half of his face blown off. Le Blanc survived with a gun shot wound to his buttocks. He died at the Georgetown Hospital eleven days after being admitted. On July 14, Rayon Clemson was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital with a gunshot to his left leg. Ten days later he died. Do people in the 21st century die from a gunshot to the buttocks? Do victims die from a gunshot wound to the leg? The answer is no and the absurdity of this occurring in the 21st century is impossible because not even in the 20th century was that a common occurrence. It seems to be a common occurrence in Guyana. Go to Google and search for American veterans injured in the Iraqi war and the numbers would be countless. Many of them suffered far more serious wounds to the buttocks and legs than Le Blanc and Clemson. You can die from a bullet wound to your buttocks or leg from a particular deterioration. A school boy can explain that. It is called an infected wound. If not treated properly, the infection poisons the body. Hospitalization should prevent the onset of infection simply because that is what hospitalization is for – to prevent infection. If the wound is terrible, you can lose the leg because the doctors will have to amputate to prevent the spread of sepsis. The point is once you are in hospital, sepsis should not kill you. Of course a person can die from a bullet wound to the buttocks or leg if the injury is so severe and the hospital is unable to stop the bleeding. How and why did Le Blanc and Clemson die? Research into deaths at the Georgetown Public Hospital would reveal there were many more patients who died in similar circumstances. I went back to my files and I found more than six articles the past five years on the unsatisfactory functions of the Georgetown Public Hospital. This column here is the latest but one more should have been done last month after I experienced an incident with Alliance For Change official, Leonard Craig, at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) of the Georgetown Public Hospital. I was doing my matutinal routine in the National Park, when I got a call from Craig about 7 am asking me to come to A&E. Craig complained that he arrived over two hours ago with feelings of chest pain but because he complained over the long wait, he was being refused treatment. I thought that was weird and crazy. You do not play with chest pain. It can be fatal if there isn’t a quick response. I met with the Head of A&E, Dr. Zulfikar Bux. He admitted that Craig was refused treatment for two reasons. His loudness was offensive to the staff and he had taken photographs of A&E with his cell phone. I was angry because chest pain is not a minor ailment. Bux said he told Craig once he calmed down he would get treatment but the photos have to be wiped out. When I arrived at A&E, Craig was sitting on a chair like a lamb. I asked Bux why then wasn’t treatment administered. Bux said the photos were the problem. Craig insisted he only took one shot. I gave Bux the phone to erase the clip so that Craig could have emergency treatment for his chest pain. But Bux again refused to admit Craig. Bux was now saying that Craig is raising his voice. In frustration, I asked the CEO, Mike Khan to intervene. He sent his administrative assistant, Michelle (I only know her first name, a very competent public servant). Michelle settled things down and Bux agreed for Craig to do an ECG but Craig was unsure about if he should proceed, given the quarrel. He asked my opinion and I recommended the Caribbean Heart Institute. We went there and he was immediately admitted. My opinion on why Le Blanc and Clemson died and many others including babies at the Georgetown Hospital is because there is a high level of incompetence among the Cuban-trained doctors. I may be wrong but I deeply feel so. This society needs to come to grips with doctors’ incompetence at the Georgetown Hospital. I think there needs to be an indepth look at their performances.