Georgetown: A Clonbrook, East Coast Demerara, mother of one, succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) around 11:00 hrs Monday after efforts of medical experts failed to save her. Dead is Rohini Balkaran, 33, who was admitted, with incapacitated lower limps, to the Public Hospital around 01:00 hrs Sunday morning. She was a teacher at the Bladen Hall Multilateral School and was a student at the University of Guyana.
The woman had reportedly been attended to by a physician on the West Demerara, who had prescribed medications for pain in the heel. He administered an injection to her heel the day before she was admitted to the public hospital.
The injection was triamcinolone after the doctor diagnosed plantar fasciitis which she had suffered from for several months. Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot.
The doctor, when contacted last evening, said that he also gave the woman Diclofenac, and a low dose Prednisone which is an anti-inflammatory drug with instructions that if there was no improvement then she should take Nimsulide, also used in the treatment of pain.
He was at pains to point out that none of these medications could cause low potassium.
Yesterday grieving family members including her husband, Chris Persaud, and mother Parbattie Balkaran, gathered at the hospital in disbelief that she had passed away so suddenly. According to the woman, her daughter consumed the first prescribed dose of the medication around 19:00 hrs Saturday before heading to bed. However, by the wee hours of Sunday morning Rohini was awake with immense discomfort in her feet.
A doctor said that this was as a result of paralysis caused by the low potassium.
Recognising the severity of her daughter’s condition, the woman said that efforts were made to rush her to the public hospital where she was admitted to the High Dependency Unit before being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. She remained there until yesterday when her condition took a turn for the worst.
Massive efforts were engaged to stabilize the woman’s deteriorating condition but by 11:00 hrs hope was shattered when she was pronounced dead, leaving her husband, mother, other relatives and friends with more questions than answers. A medical source said that there should be an investigation into what could have caused the low potassium. One root cause is poisoning.
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