MEDICAL personnel at the Mabaruma Regional Hospital watched in despair last Friday as a terminally ill teen drew his last after pilots of a local airline refused to air-dash him to Georgetown.

According to reports, 17-year-old Chris Williams of Port Kaituma, North West District was hospitalised at the institution there around March 26, but was later transferred to Mabaruma after his condition worsened.

The teenager, who suffered from an undisclosed chronic disease, was reportedly rushed to the hospital by his parents when his condition became serious.
Reports are that the doctors at Mabaruma felt that owing to the condition in which the lad was in, he would be better off at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
“Due to shortage of supplemental oxygen and the severity of his condition, he was scheduled to be transferred to the GPHC on March 28,” a medical personnel at the Mabaruma Hospital told the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday.

Reports are that a medivac (medical evacuation) process was initiated on the said March 28, two days before he died, but because of a change of schedule, it was difficult to source another flight, despite their best efforts, to bring him down to the city on the same day.
“We were told that the coordinator of medivac flights said that the pilots were refusing to fly the patient due to concerns about their personnel health,” a Ministry of Public Health official said.

Reports out of Mabaruma are that the nurses and doctors there tried desperately to save the young man’s life, but because of the lack of oxygen, they couldn’t.
“Health staff at Mabaruma were forced to watch the patient’s condition deteriorate,” medical personnel in the area noted. Williams would eventually suffer an atelectasis, what in medical terms means a collapse, and passed away on Friday

According to a medical source at the Mabaruma Hospital, the young man was totally dependent on oxygen, which they were out of at the time, and hence the urgency to have him brought to the city.

Some medical personnel at Mabaruma are reportedly still traumatised about what transpired, particularly the lack of humanity shown by those involved in getting him to the city.
“We are supposed to be seeking betterment for all persons in our care,” one noted.