Trinidad: 51-year-old man dies less than 24 hours after visiting Princes Town health facility

Trinidad and Tobago: A 51-year-old man has been reported dead less than 24 hours after visiting the Princes Town District Health Facility for discomfort in his feet, in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago.

Reports revealed that he was prescribed medications for that.

The deceased has been identified as Rattan Ramkhelawan, a resident of Broomage No.1. he was reported dead on Saturday at around 2:55 p.m.

According to the reports, he experienced medical distress while he was driving around the vicinity of Family Mart Supermarket in Princes Town.

Police officers noted that Ramkhelawan visited the facility last Friday, following the complaint of discomfort in his feet.

Ramkhelawan’s daughter told the police officers that her father had no previous medical history and was properly examined at the facility. She noted that he was prescribed two medications, Irbesartan and Amlodipine, by the doctors at the facility, which he took on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, at around 2:15 p.m., police officers responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident at Family Mart, where they found a Mazda Axela, which was driven by Ramkhelawan.

The vehicle was on the pavement, with its front bumper against a parked silver Nissan Bluebird Syl.

The driver of the parked car, who was inside the supermarket, reported to the officers that he was alerted about the collision and on exiting the building, he observed that Ramkhelawan was experiencing medical distress.

Emergency Health Services were immediately contacted, and Ramkhelawan was subsequently taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility.

Doctors reported to the officers that he arrived with decreased responsiveness and was barely able to speak. Several attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 2:55 p.m.

The incident has raised serious concerns regarding the health facilities, doctors and their prescriptions as a user commented, “Most of the young doctors of the day rely on Google for everything to solve medical problems especially where medicines are to be administered, however very rare do they take side effects into consideration, not everyone's tolerance level is the same for certain applications or medicines.”

Another user commented, “Some medications may cause heart attack in seniors as a major side effect. Doctors need to know that before prescribing them. It happened to my dad massive heart attack thank God it happened in the health center itself where he was seeking medical attention for symptoms of heart attacks. It was the worst experience of our family lives. But thank God he survived he's a living miracle.”

Further investigations into the matter remain underway.