Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 25, 2018 News
It’s close to three years since the incident occurred. However, the truth of the circumstances of the death of a female patient of the National Psychiatric Hospital is still unknown.
According to reports on August 26, 2015, ‘Edna,’ a female patient of the National Psychiatric Hospital was murdered during a fight with another patient.
The reports suggested that a fight broke out between the victim and two other patients who were isolated after they exhibited aggressive behaviour.
The reports further said that only one nurse was on duty in the ward when this tragedy occurred, and it is unclear whether she was aware of the fight and attempted to intervene.
The matter was never reported to the police until it was carried in the media.
Then Health Minister, George Norton had promised that an investigation will be launched and the findings would be made public. But from all appearances, that information was never released.
Over the weekend, the issue was raised again in the letter pages of the newspaper.
In the letter, the writer sought to highlight the plight of the mentally ill in Guyana. The writer noted that the response of the Ministry of Public Health to Edna’s death is not only troubling, but also indicates the low value placed on human lives in Guyana particularly, persons who have mental health issues.
In the correspondence, the writer also highlighted the need for an updated mental health legislation to bring an end to the lack of transparency and accountability that exists in the mental health system.
While noting that this is not the first time such an incident occurred at the institution, the writer called on “the current Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, to do the right thing and provide a complete update to the nation on the incident.”
“It is unclear whether appropriate measures have since been taken to minimize the risk of harm to patients in the care of the state.
It is also past time for the findings into Edna’s death to be made public to ensure that others do not suffer a similar fate.”
Edna was reportedly a mentally retarded patient at the institution since 2008. She was discharged, and returned in 2010. The perpetrator is said to be in her fifties and reportedly hails from the Bath, West Coast Berbice area.
She was admitted into the mental institution around June 2015. According to reports, the two inmates were both patients of the female admission wards (A and B) of the institution. After exhibiting aggressive behaviour recently, they were both placed in a single room along with another aggressive patient.
Nurses working in the institution had expressed concern about the conditions under which they work. It was said that one nurse alone is often assigned to a ward which houses as many as 31 patients.
“The general area is very bushy, there are hardly any lights and sometimes there are no guards working. When the incident occurred, only one nurse was reportedly working in each ward, and officials were tightlipped. Information was hard to come by,” a concerned staff member had said.
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