Deyalsingh: SWRHA investigated child's eye surgery

HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) did an investigation into how 13-year-old Stephan Thomas underwent eye surgery last year that was meant for another patient.

Thomas is now 14.

At a news conference at attorney Prakash Ramdhar's San Fernando office, Thomas's mother Latoiya Moses said his eye condition has not improved and she has taken legal action against the SWRHA.

Ramadhar sent a pre-action protocol letter to the SWRHA on December 17, 2021.

Responding to a question in the House of Representatives on Friday, Deyalsingh said, "The procedure in question was not recently performed. It was performed on January 11, 2021.

"As soon as the issue was raised with the SWRHA, a full investigation was launched."

On January 15, Deyalsingh said, "A full clinical disclosure meeting was held with officials from the SWRHA, the parent and/or guardian of the child and the child themselves. So the answer is yes (there was an investigation)."

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh asked whether the SWRHA had failed to hand over medical records to the boy's attorneys,

Deyalsingh said, "As is well known in the public domain now, the matter is now engaging the attention of attorneys for the patient. So as such, I am advised that I should not be speaking publicly to prejudice the case one way or another.

"Situations like these are things which the Health Ministry and agencies under its remit seek to learn lessons from. These incidents give us time to pause, to review standard operating procedures."

Deyalsingh said the ministry "is actively engaged in learning whatever we can from this incident to make sure that this and similar incidents don't happen in the future."

On Wednesday, a SWRHA official told Newsday the authority had noted media reports and inquiries in relation to Thomas's surgery, but said, "Based on our initial checks, there is no record of receipt of the attorney's letter. The authority will reach out to the attorney to obtain a copy of same."

On Friday, SWRHA reiterated the same thing.