DOCTORS were forced to do an emergency Caesarean section to save a baby whose mother had contracted dengue and was too weak to deliver.
Baby Jia survived.
Her mother, Abigail Birsa, died hours later.
Birsa’s death certificate stated that she died from dengue haemorrhagic fever and hypovolemic shock.
Birsa, 26, is the fourth person known to have died from dengue this year.
Last week, Health Minister Jerry Narace said there would be an all-out war to combat dengue, which is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
The Ministry had previously said cases of dengue were under control.
Birsa, of Ragoonanan Road, Enterprise, died on Monday.
Yesterday, however, family members claimed that had San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) healthcare workers attended to the expectant mother earlier, she may have been alive to hold her newborn baby.
’The waiting period needs to be vastly improved,’ her father, Michael Birsa, said.
He said his daughter was admitted to the hospital on Saturday, after a visit to a private health provider.
’They said she needed treatment immediately, so we took her to San Fernando (General Hospital),’ he said.
She was admitted hours later.
Days before, Abigail was taken to the Mt Hope hospital with a high fever and was also made to wait, he said. The result of the test done at that hospital was unknown because the blood sample they took from Abigail was lost, her father said.
Birsa was also disappointed with the treatment at the SFGH. He said it was while waiting for test results at this hospital that his daughter collapsed and started bleeding through her nose. ’Her baby had to be taken from her,’ he said.
But apart from losing his daughter, Birsa is also without his wife, Sheriffa, and son, Jason. They, too, are awaiting results at the SFGH to determine whether they contracted dengue.
Six months ago, Abigail left her cruise ship job to return to her Enterprise home to prepare for the birth of her child.
’She intended to just spend time with her mother and father after the delivery,’ Birsa said.
For years, Birsa said he had been calling on the regional corporation to maintain the empty lot next to his residence. He said he would usually spray around his home and take precautions to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.
