Family: Baboolal put others before self

THE late Dr Linda Baboolal routinely put the well-being of other people before her own, and sadly, this may have cost her her life, said her daughter Carolyn Moshtagh.

“Mum, being the lion that she is, continued to work although she had a bit of a cough, not realising it was developing into pneumonia,” Moshtagh recalled of Baboolal’s last days.

“We all know what a strong, amazing woman she is. Her patients and going out to her office, her practice, that came first.

“All my life I know my Mum is always trying to put her health secondary to everything else, which is a shame. We were hoping to have had many, many more years with her.”

Moshtagh said Baboolal had entered Mt Hope Hospital with confirmed pneumonia.

“It went from admitting, to the High Dependency Unit to ICU (Intensive Care Unit), where she rapidly deteriorated.

“They did try so many things, to keep her comfortable, to see if she was recovering. We got a little glimmer of hope, but then it just got worse.

“This morning at 4.44 am she passed, with all of us at her bedside.”

Baboolal had not been conscious when she died, Moshtagh said, but had been sedated for two days by doctors who reckoned this would better help her to recover.

“It had been too uncomfortable for her. The energy that it would take for her to be awake, they thought sedation would give her a better chance.”

Moshtagh said when Baboolal went to ICU, she had been quite aware.

“We would visit her every day. We would talk to her. She would nod or shake her head to answer, or squeeze our hands.”

Over the last couple of days her condition worsened, causing her doctors to be concerned, and then she died.

Newsday asked if Baboolal, a doctor and former health minister, should have been in a private hospital instead of Mt Hope.

Moshtagh replied, “Mum put her entire trust in Mt Hope. She was a friend of the staff. My Mum had her heart surgery two years ago there.

“I came from Canada and I am totally amazed at the care she received.”

Baboolal’s husband, Dr Michael Baboolal, thought very highly of his wife’s doctors.

“They did everything,” he told Newsday. “They were very, very knowledgeable.” Could a private hospital have given more hands-on care?

“I think Mt Hope is probably the best place to be if you are very, very ill.”

Of his recollections of his wife, Michael Baboolal said, “She was a straightforward, honest person of integrity. She committed herself to the service of the people who she represented and also TT.” As regards funeral arrangements, Baboolal said, “We are hoping to have it next Wednesday at 2 pm at Belgrove’s in Tacarigua.”