Our Lives Matter: Group Protests the Deaths of New Mothers and Babies at PMH
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Nearly twenty people assembled near the front of the Princess Margaret Hospital demanding better treatment and a new facility for patients.
The group gathered, shouting, “Our Lives Matter” with group leaders Kendle Colebrook and Attorney Maria Daxon. They decried the recent deaths of pregnant mothers and newborn babies.
Wearing t-shirts that read, ‘Enough,’ Colebrooke said, “The babies that died in there are our children. They are us, they are us.”
Daxon said, “We came to support the women who died and lost their babies…How many other women are going to die before you spend the taxpayers’ money on a new hospital.”
One woman said as her niece gives birth in a few weeks, she has warned her not to go to PMH.
“I tell her to go private. They killing people in here. You going in here normal, and when you come out, you coming out as COVID.”
The police called to the scene, stood nearby as the small group voiced their concerns.
The group said they lay the blame at the feet of Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and Health Minister Renward Wells.
This comes after a young mother Kayla Edwards-Dean said she was ignored in the hospital and gave birth to twin boys, later learning that the twins died after delivery.
36-year-old Zennrine Ramdas died of womb infection last week, after giving birth to a baby girl in August.
And 20-year-old Shakinah Dean, a confirmed COVID-19 case, died last month after giving birth to a baby boy. Her mom said she did not receive adequate care and was left unattended.
Addressing media on Tuesday morning outside of Cabinet, Wells said he feels a sense of empathy for the mothers.
“Hearing the kind of things that we are hearing in regards to the loss of life, it doesn’t sit well with them, it certainly doesn’t sit well with me and we’re going to do all we can to continue to preserve the life of the Bahamian people.”
Wells said the Public Hospitals Authority is investigating the matter, although no official complaint has been made.
“We have not received any direct complaints, written complaints but the ministry is looking into it,” he said.
The group promised to assemble again on Wednesday.
