The Enmore Regional Hospital on Wednesday said that a baby in distress was stabilised and transferred to another facility in July as its neonatal ventilators were in use.
In a statement, the hospital was responding to a Facebook video on the same day by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed where the mother of a newborn described her experience with her child being sent from the Bath Regional Hospital to the Enmore Regional Hospital and then to the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Dr Badyel Bakhsh, Administrator of the Enmore Regional Hospital said in the statement that Mohamed sought
to create the impression that the hospital did not have neonatal ventilators.
“That is simply false. Enmore had neonatal ventilators. At the time, they were being used to care for other critically ill babies. The medical team stabilised the newborn, identified available capacity elsewhere in the public health system, safely transferred the child, and the child is alive and well.
That is not evidence of a failed healthcare system. That is evidence of a referral system doing exactly what it is supposed to do”, the Administrator asserted.
He added that no serious person should expect every hospital to have unlimited intensive-care capacity at every moment. “Modern healthcare depends on networks of hospitals, specialist services, referrals and transfers. What matters is whether the patient is stabilised, transferred appropriately and receives the necessary care”, he stated.
Bakhsh contended that the record of the Enmore Regional Hospital speaks for itself.
“Since opening in July 2025, the hospital has recorded 33,331 outpatient visits, 25,359 emergency visits, 4,337 admissions and 556 deliveries. It has performed 125 Caesarean sections and 218 general surgeries, while delivering 51,583 laboratory tests, 19,073 X-rays, 2,329 CT scans and 6,035 ultrasounds.
These are not slogans. These are patients treated, mothers delivered, emergencies managed, surgeries performed and diagnostic services provided”, the Administrator said.
He posited that there was nothing wrong with scrutinising the Government.
“Indeed, public officials and public institutions must be held accountable. But accountability requires facts. Deliberately presenting a successful clinical referral as evidence of systemic failure is not accountability; it is political theatre.
More troublingly, this kind of politics risks undermining public confidence in the very doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who are caring for Guyanese every day”, the Administrator added.
He said that Guyana’s healthcare system is not perfect and no responsible government should pretend otherwise but that it is expanding.
“New hospitals are being built, diagnostic capacity is increasing, specialist services are growing, and thousands more Guyanese are receiving services closer to where they live. That transformation should be debated vigorously. But it should be debated on the evidence. Mr. Mohamed can manufacture a narrative. He cannot manufacture away the record. And on healthcare, the record speaks for itself”, Bakhsh stated.
Complications
The one-month-old baby girl is recovering at home but remains on seizure medication after her mother alleged that a series of medical complications and failures at the $6.6 billion Bath Regional Hospital resulted in the newborn being transferred before receiving critical care at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH). It is unclear why the baby was not transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital rather than being sent across the river to the WDRH.
The allegations were made by the child’s mother, Divashti Ramdin, during a conversation with the Opposition Leader that was posted to social media.
Ramdin, who is from Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, said she underwent an emergency Caesarean section at Bath Regional Hospital on July 8 after arriving there the previous night in labour. She said the doctor subsequently determined that an emergency C-section was necessary.
Ramdin said her daughter was delivered and initially appeared healthy, crying immediately after birth. However, she was later informed that the baby had developed an infection and was receiving treatment.
The mother said the situation took a dramatic turn in the early hours of the following morning. According to Ramdin, her baby began crying around 4 a.m., but repeated calls for a midwife went unanswered. She said that because she was still numb from the waist down following the C-section, she struggled to lift herself but eventually managed to reach her daughter and breastfeed her.
She said the baby subsequently appeared active and well, and she sent videos of the newborn to her husband. Ramdin said that around 6 a.m., a midwife checked the baby after she began crying again and returned her to the bassinet. She said she was later told that she and her baby would be transferred to the ward.
However, Ramdin said that while medication was being administered to the baby, the newborn suddenly became unresponsive.
“I start hollering and I start crying,” Ramdin recounted, stating that the baby screamed after receiving the medication, with her arms and legs raised, before becoming unresponsive.
She said a doctor was called and medical personnel took the baby into another room, while she was left without an immediate explanation of what had happened.
Ramdin said she eventually approached the room and pleaded for information about her daughter but was allegedly told that the doctor could not provide details at that time.
She said her family members were also initially unable to obtain information.
Ramdin said that the family was subsequently told that the baby was in critical condition and needed to be transferred because Bath Regional Hospital did not have the necessary medication or ventilator support.
The baby was eventually transferred to the Enmore Hospital, according to Ramdin, where doctors reportedly discovered that the newborn had suffered a seizure.
Ramdin said the referral documentation from Bath identified an infection but did not indicate that the child had suffered a seizure.
She said doctors then treated the baby for the seizure and determined that she required further specialised care.
According to Ramdin, the baby was subsequently transferred again, this time to West Demerara Regional Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator and treated in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Mother and daughter remained there for more than two weeks.
Ramdin said the baby eventually began recovering and was discharged, but continues to take medication for seizures twice daily. The Bath Regional Hospital has not responded to the mother’s complaint.
In the Facebook post, the Opposition Leader criticised the state of healthcare delivery despite the government’s significant investment in infrastructure.
He pointed specifically to the $6.6 billion Bath Regional Hospital, arguing that the construction of modern facilities must be matched by adequate staffing, specialised equipment and medical services.
“The system is failing the people of this country,” Mohamed said.
He also questioned the availability of neonatal services that, according to Ramdin, resulted in the family travelling from Region Five to facilities in Regions Four and Three.
Ramdin said her family travelled from Cotton Tree to West Demerara during the baby’s hospitalisation, with the journey taking roughly two and a half hours each way.
She said the financial burden fell entirely on the family, with relatives making the journey repeatedly to visit the mother and newborn.
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