Relatives of murdered man question medics’ slow pace

Relatives of murder victim Anand Rajkumar said they are unhappy with the slow pace of staff at a hospital in treating him and said while they understood the strain health workers are under, in coping with covid19 challenges, they expected a more quicker, fluid response.

Rajkumar, 29, was shot in Oropune on Monday night. He spent two days at the hospital before succumbing. Newsday spoke to Rajkumar’s younger brother Michael Scott at the Forensic Science Centre, St James on Thursday, who said there is a need for quicker response from hospital staff in times of emergency.

Scott said while he did not want to blame his brother’s death on workers at the hospital, he felt more could have been done to save his life. “When we got to the Arima Hospital they took him (Rajkumar) out of the car, placed him on a stretcher and rolled him into the hospital, I was asking the workers what the procedure was in times like these.

“Then the nurses told me they had to get a key to unlock a door to the hospital, they took 20 minutes to go and find the key while my other family was still screaming for help. After treating him in Arima they transferred him to Mt Hope and we had to wait about 30 minutes for the ambulance to get back to the Arima Hospital before they could transfer him. When we finally got to Mt Hope they told us they didn’t have any blood to give him.”

Scott said, “I don’t like how they dealt with him. I don’t know if they were understaffed or what the case is, but both hospitals could have done better.” Scott described his brother as an easygoing man and did not know why anyone would want to kill him.

“I remember he told me recently that he felt that someone was out to get him. He didn’t interfere with anyone so I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt him. “He had two children, a two-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl with a heart condition. Both of them are taking it really hard right now.”