Why I Left Dominica

I was born in Dominica, and I love the Island life. After 40 years away from home, I retired and moved back to my beautiful island with my wife. While there, one day, my wife started having severe abdominal pain, and we rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital ( PMH) Emergency Department for treatment and diagnosis. Upon arrival, she was given an I.V. Saline solution and paracetamol for pain. I will always remember her saying ” please don’t leave me here”. After about 2 hours the pain started to subside, and they sent us home saying it was probably something she ate. After returning to the States, she had the same severe pain. She went to the Emergency Department and after many tests, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. My second experience with PMH, I had an allergic reaction to one of my medications, Lisinopril, actually. My lip was swollen and my whole face continued to swell. I went from the local nurse to the Roseau Clinic, and then finally the PMH before I finally was able to get a simple prescription from the pharmacy. This was an all-day thing. The final time was my wife was having shortness of breath. We called an ambulance. It arrived about 30 minutes later. Nothing in there but a bed. At the hospital, she was examined by a doctor who told her that her chest sounded like there was “an orchestra” in there. She was given a breathing treatment and sent home with a prescription. I don’t remember what it was, but it was very common among the villagers, as they already knew what she was given before I told them. We got back to the States, went to see a doctor and was told that she was in congestive heart failure, and would probably be on medications for the rest of her life. These are the reasons for not wanting to be in Dominica for long periods of time. PMH and the medical facilities are not equipped to handle even the most minimal medical situation. Therefore, many of our citizens are dying of medical issues that could be resolved if we had better medical equipment and specialists. We need a state of the art medical facility in Dominica but more importantly, staffed with qualified and dedicated staff. There is no excuse for this anymore. The people are still waiting and while waiting dying.

 

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