PAHO recommends Guyanese to join probe

Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has recommended Guyanese national Dr Santosh Kulkani to join the special panel investigating the death of Chrystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair. Boodoo-Ramsoomair, 29, died on March 4 at the San Fernando General Hospital after a Caesarean Section. On March 14, five doctors and five nurses were suspended, pending the outcome of a probe into  her death. 

The announcement of Kulkani to join the investigating team was made yesterday by the Ministry of Health’s chief medical officer, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, at a news briefing  at the Ministry of Health National Blood Transfusion Unit, Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain. Cumberbatch said Kulkani would arrive from Jamaica tomorrow to join the panel, headed by Dr Bharat Bassaw, of the St Augustine Campus of the University of West Indies. He said Kulkani was a senior lecturer in female medical science in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Mona, Jamaica, Campus of the University of West Indies.

Cumberbatch said Kulkani was recognised and affiliated with the ob gyn systems in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He said the panel would begin the investigation on Monday. Cumberbatch said the ministry expected it to be completed in seven to ten days. He said it was the panel’s mandate to investigate the circumstances which led to Boodoo-Ramsoomair’s death and not the doctors and nurses. Cumberbatch said, “It does not directly deal with the individuals responsible but to ensure the systems and processes the ministry has in its framework were adhered to.”