A midwife at the Georgetown Public Hospital helped alert staff and evacuate mothers and babies after discovering a fire in the hospital’s maternity unit last Saturday.
In a Facebook post, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) said Sallina Motayne was working in the labour ward and preparing a patient for surgery when a colleague alerted her to the smell of smoke coming from a nearby nurses’ room.
Motayne retrieved the key and opened the room, where she encountered flames. She immediately alerted other employees, who assisted in containing the fire and moving patients to safety.
Patients in the labour ward, as well as mothers and babies in the birthing room, were evacuated, the hospital said.
GPHC did not disclose what caused the fire or the extent of the damage.
Motayne joined the hospital as a nursing assistant in 2016 and later trained as a midwife.
“The Midwifery Programme was challenging, but by God’s grace and favour, I succeeded,” she was quoted as saying.
She said she found fulfilment in helping women through routine and high-risk labour.
“My motivation for going to work each day is being able to assist mothers through both routine and critically difficult labour situations, where the lives of both mother and baby may be at risk,” Motayne said.
GPHC commended Motayne and the other maternity-unit employees for their response to the fire.
Kiskadee Watch had reported that the fire broke out in the nurses’ rest room at approximately 6.50 pm on August 29. GPHC described it as a “spontaneous fire” but did not disclose its cause or the extent of the damage.
The hospital’s initial statement said the fire was identified and extinguished by a doctor and a nurse before the Guyana Fire and Rescue Service arrived. Patients were evacuated as a precaution and later returned to the ward.
GPHC did not say whether whether an investigation into the fire had been launched.
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