Almost half of the recovering COVID-19 patients housed at the step-down facility at Brooklyn Settlement, Sangre Grande, are challenging Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh’s claims that he spoke to the majority of them via telephone on Easter Monday and that they refused to be transferred because they were happy with the remedial work done there, after their complaints about the unsanitary conditions were highlighted in the media.
The group of close to 13 patients told Guardian Media last evening that up to the time of Monday’s daily media briefing at 2 pm, Deyalsingh was also aware that four patients had already been sent back to the Couva Hospital after they began displaying viral symptoms.
One person said, “Between Saturday night when we got here and yesterday, they (other patients) began coughing and had fever so those four were taken back.”
During the briefing, Deyalsingh claimed only one patient had returned to Couva and that 30 people remained at the former Aging At Home facility at Bridge Road. He added too that he had spoken to some 26 of them on his way to the briefing and they had agreed to stay at the facility after remedial work was done by the Eastern Regional Health Authority. The minister also said he had agreed to let the patients tell their side of the story to the media, as many of them expressed a desire to do so.
But speaking soon after Deyalsingh, the traumatised Sangre Grande patients, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, claimed his about them wanting to remain at the facility was untrue.
One said, “A number of us were watching it (press briefing) and were quite enraged frankly, about the blatant lies.
“I was never contacted by anyone, nobody knew who came to contact who, nobody saw anyone coming to contact anyone, so at least amongst half of us, none of us knew what he (Deyalsingh) was talking about.”
In fact, the patients said the general consensus among them was quite different to what Deyalsingh suggested.
“We absolutely abhor it (staying at the facility) and are only putting up with it because we’re told it is the home stretch for us,” another patient said.
They admitted they are totally fed up and can’t wait to be reunited with their loved ones. They noted that there is no air-conditioning at the facility and the dorm-like rooms are not ventilated, so when they turn on the fans only hot air circulates in them. The doors to many of the toilets are also broken and one person said it was particularly embarrassing and humiliating for the patients to have to watch each other using the washrooms.
“You are in a living room and then basically you see someone go into the toilet and there is no door for privacy, so you and them are left watching each other. It is an uncomfortable situation for the women.”
While not all the bathrooms are in that condition, one woman said she was on that floor and this is what she had to deal with. One man claimed he was trying as much as possible not to eat anything, so he could avoid using the toilet.
In addition to the cockroaches that roam freely, another patient said they are now worried about a possible rat infestation on the outskirts of the property.
The patients said they initially welcomed the move to the convalescent facility because it meant fresh air, green grass and sunlight. However, they reiterated they were horrified to witness the run-down and dilapidated facility when they got there.
Asked if they were offered a chance to relocate again, the group said, “We have heard that Caura is so much worse and we are scared and intimidated to say anything now in case they move us there.”
One person said faced with a choice of, “Human faeces on the floor at Caura or sleeping with cockroaches in the heat…which would you make?”
The patients are also scared their phones might be confiscated as they continue to speak out and expose the conditions the health officials have imposed on them.
One patient said close to 5 pm on Monday, one female patient walked around and asked approximately five people if they wanted to leave. When asked by the patients what options they had, she reportedly told them it was either Caura or remain where they were.
Guardian Media called Deyalsingh six times between 8.45 and 9.06 pm Monday but he did not respond, nor did he respond to the voice messages which were left. He also did not respond to forwarded questions on the issue.
However, minutes later, the ministry’s corporate communications manager Candice Alcantara contacted Guardian Media to find out what was wrong as she had been contacted by the minister.
Alcantara later indicated that an email be sent to her and at 9.40 pm indicated she had received it.