WESTERN BUREAU:

A St James mother is angry with staff at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), accusing the institution of being responsible for the death of her five-month-old boy.

The 27-year-old mother was disconsolate as she mourned the loss of her child.

"How mi deh go manage without mi baby. Mi cyaan cope," she said, crying as she related her story to The Gleaner last Friday.

"My baby woke up a healthy and happy child Wednesday morning and I took him to the paediatric clinic at the hospital for an appointment to have blood tests done, one of which was for HIV and the other to test if the baby had any trace of haemophilia," she said.

Needles

The mother is HIV-positive.

The baby's mother said she heard when he cried out while being administered to and, about 20 minutes later, medical staff told her she could go home with the child.

She said the baby cried throughout the night and she subsequently realised it seemed the baby had been stuck more than once with needles.

She has called for a thorough investigation.

Responding to the accusation, chief executive officer at the CRH, Everton Anderson, said: "We can confirm that (the baby) visited the paediatric clinic last Wednesday and subsequently returned home. The hospital's next interaction with (the baby) was on Thursday at 10 p.m. when he arrived at the hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival."

Post-mortem

Anderson said the hospital was unable to comment further, as a post-mortem is likely to be done this week.

Meanwhile, nurse Sharlene Kessna-Duncan, who is coordinator for orphaned and vulnerable children at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, said she was shocked to learn that the infant had died, having seen him shortly after he had seen the doctors.

She said she was concerned that an HIV test might have been done a bit early. It was usually done, she said, when the child was closer to a year old. Kessna-Duncan, who is a trained phlebotomist, said the situation was a cause for concern.

noel.thompson@gleanerjm.com