Berbice. Relatives are questioning whether a more alert response by doctors at the New Amsterdam Hospital might have been able the save the life of a 17-month-old child.
Okeshia Thomas called “Princess” was pronounced dead when doctors looked at her for about 15 minutes after she arrived at the New Amsterdam Hospital Monday evening.
However, nurses, who were on duty say the child was still breathing when she arrived at the institution.
The infant was rushed to the hospital after efforts to revive her failed when she was pulled out of a shallow drain in front of her Timmers Dam home in Mount Sinai, commonly called Angoys Avenue.
The child was reported missing and an immediate search started which ended when a neighbour put his hand into the drain in hopes of finding her there. Reports are that he started by placing his hand on her head which was underwater and at the time not visible.
She was pulled out and a Neighborhood Community Police Officer Sherri Ann Knights immediately started to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. According to Knights ,Okeshia was still alive at the time.
Her great grandmother Justina Carrington said when she arrived on the scene; Okeshia was lying on the ground and gave a faint groan. “I put my mouth over she nose and mouth and I blow and then water start to come through she mouth and I do it again and the same thing happen, and by the third time, I do it I start to faint so I had to stop.”
She said that someone advised that Okeshia be rolled to get the water out from her lungs. This process also saw water coming through her nose. The great grandmother explained that she used her mouth to clear the water from the infant’s noise. She was then rushed to the hospital on motorcycle after efforts to get a taxi failed.
Moments after Okeshia arrived at the New Amsterdam Hospital, doctors pronounced her dead. Meanwhile, the circumstances which led to the death of Okeshia are still being investigated by police.
Reports are that Okeshia left a yard opposite her home where her 19-year-old mother was, as her father approached. The 23-year-old carpenter had just left his work site two houses away and was going home when a friend took away his attention as his daughter approached. Okeshia’s mother Nakaice Blair asked her husband Otheia Thomas to look at the child. However, the distraction caused him not to pay attention as she walked back to the yard where her mother was.
Moments later, the concerned mother asked of the whereabouts of her child and a frantic search began. After about five minutes, someone suggested that the drain be searched. This is when the discovery was made.
The couple had been friends for the past four years, but moved in together shortly after the child was born. Her grandmother Valerie Thomas described her as a very nice person to have around. “Very brilliant, she knows so much, it is amazing,” she said.
