A police officer and her newborn are recovering after a traumatic birth. PC Nygerie Sutherland had an unexpected home delivery in Orange Walk last night and after giving birth, she was reportedly losing blood and slipping in and out of consciousness, meanwhile her baby was apparently suffocating and losing color.
They had to be rushed to the hospital in a police mobile because, according to reports, the Northern Regional Hospital refused to deploy an ambulance to her house, despite several desperate calls being made to them. Police blamed it on a nurse at the hospital who they say made the decision not to deploy the ambulance. Police say that this is a reoccurring practice with the NRH.
Today, we asked the Director of Hospital Services, Dr Jorge Polanco, about this situation.
Dr. Jorge Polanco, Director of Hospital Services
"I heard that information, immediately I looked into it. I spoke to the acting chief of staff from Orange Walk. He was aware of the incident also. The preliminary inquiry is that at the same time that the call requesting an ambulance came, at that same time they were in the process of transferring another newborn to Belize City, to Karl Heusner. It was in that moment - making the decision how to move and where to move, who to give priority to - at the same time while they were doing that, police vehicle that was reported arrived with the mother and the newborn. I must add that they were managed, as per protocol for every delivery outside of the hospital setting, there is a protocol followed, so they were managed and up to this morning, they were both stable. But I must also mention that tomorrow I have scheduled a visit to the Northern Regional - that visit was scheduled for Friday but because of the incident we said let's drop in tomorrow to get more information on the issue. But the information gotten up to now is that it was something that happened very fast and I must also congratulate the police for doing what they did immediately, they did not wait for a response from the hospital, they moved. So it was at that moment they also arrived."
Reporter
"In Belize City we have BERT and BERT can dispatch and maybe a number of ambulances. Is this a situation at NRH where you have to decide which emergency is more important?"
Dr. Jorge Polanco, Director of Hospital Services
"We would have normally more than one ambulance working. I was also made to understand that the other ambulance is in repair as we speak. Traditionally we have tried to update the fleet, those ambulance have a lifespan and the other one that was working is being repaired, so only one was working at that time. But we are aware that there is a need to have much more working. I am not sure of other details if the one for Corozal was requested. As I said we are just at the preliminary investigation. We should more information in detail tomorrow."
Notably, PC Sutherland lives only two houses away from the prime minister on Dunn Street in Orange Walk Town.
