NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Amid concerns about the length of time it took for the sole survivor of a deadly crash on Long Island who later succumbed to his injuries after being airlifted to New Providence, Minister of Health Dr Michael Darville said the time has come for the government to address emergency medical services on the Family Islands.
“I believe the days are gone when individuals who are in any sort of traumatic event is placed on the back of a truck and tried to get to the facility of the airport; I believe we must do better,” Darville said.
“I think we must find a better way for emergency medical services on our Family Islands and as a matter of fact, we intend to bring a paper to address that; address the manpower shortages at our clinics.
Trevon Roxbury, 19, and Mandie Constantakis Jr, 19, were killed at the scene, while Manoli Constantakis, 21, was airlifted to the capital.
The young men were in a Nissan Infinity that crashed into a residence in the settlement of Mangrove Bush, Long Island around 9pm.
Appeals for the public to donate blood for the survivor flooded social media, but the young man died of his injuries in hospital
Amber Constantakis, Manoli’s mother, lamented authorities’ handling of the crash and the airlift, claiming her husband retrieved their son from the crash against the wishes of police; acquired an air ambulance, but had to wait until the doctor on the island gave approval that the victim needed it, and a physician on New Providence was on the phone advising nurses at the clinic on “what to do to my son to keep him alive”.
She said the air ambulance arrived to transport her son around five hours after the crash, and while his COVID-19 test was negative, officials reportedly wanted to transport him in an ISO chamber used to transport suspected infected patients — a measure she claimed took over an hour and a half.
The mother claimed doctors in New Providence advised her that if her son had arrived just a couple of hours before he may have pulled through.
In a separate interview, Long Island MP Adrian Gibson said he has long-called for the shortcomings on the island to be addressed.
“It was announced that there was a million dollars or so allocated for upgrades to the Deadman’s Cay Clinic, which is the clinic where the gentleman was treated,” he said.
“As it stands, there have been no upgrades.
“That clinic is in need of an ambulance. That was also supposed to be a part of the IDB loan.
The Long Island MP also said the Long Island morgue has been challenged due to a spate of deaths in recent weeks.
“All of those bodies had to be moved to the morgue in Simms, which has a capacity of three persons,” he added.
Darville said resources will be provided through the IDB loan facility to “improve our clinics and look at the manpower resources as well as the physical plan and get them to a standard that I feel is consistent with what we need to provide throughout the country”.
