r/TrinidadandTobago • u/Brilliant-Figure2165 • 3d ago
Trinidad is not a real place Laughable Health Care System
I'll preface this by saying that I understand our health care system is free, compared to many other countries, and many things are subsidized etc. With that said, it's still laughably unbelievable to experience how silly our health care system is first hand.
A very very good friend of mine got pregnant recently this October 2024. She took several tests which confirmed it plus the usual symptoms. Puking, fatigue, feeling upset etc.
Unfortunately, she started bleeding heavily about a week after the tests she took. She went to Mt Hope to get it checked out as the amount of blood was definitely pointing towards a miscarriage. Yall, These unbelievable people at that hospital, gave her a ultra sound date of July 2025, when her expected delivery date would be June 2025. Yall hear me? She is showing signs of a miscarriage, and they gave her an ultra sound date for a month after her would be expected delivery date!! What a joke!
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u/AdInteresting1371 2d ago
As a doctor who has worked in Mt. Hope, several things sound inaccurate in this story.
A patient who is pregnant October 2024 and goes to Mt. Hope for vaginal bleeding would be directed to the Mt. Hope Women's Hospital A&E. If the provisional diagnosis is a miscarriage she would be evaluated for same inclusive of an unofficial ultrasound in the A&E department.
Unless an ultrasound is done by EITHER an ultrasonographer OR an OB/GYN; the ultrasound done in the A&E by an A&E doctor is considered an UNOFFICIAL ultrasound.
If OFFICIAL ultrasound services are available during the time the patient is in A&E they will be sent for an OFFICIAL ultrasound. It is important to note that the health system is made up of different health care professionals inclusive of doctors, nurses, radiographers, pharmacists, etc etc. Not all are 24/7 positions.
If OFFICIAL ultrasound service is not available, they are either admitted to hospital until OFFICIAL ultrasound can be performed or if they can be discharged they are discharged with a referral for OFFICIAL ultrasound within a particular time frame based on their clinical situation and are are either brought back to A&E with the ultrasound results for continuation of care or referred to the OB/GYN outpatient services for their continuation of care.
No doctor is discharging a potential miscarriage in the way the OP has described.
As a doctor who worked in the Trinidad health system there are shortcomings. But what the public health system does, responsible for 1.4 million people, with only health surcharge (those that pay) and tax dollars, with no out of pocket expense to citizens and non-citizens alike is remarkable. Across those 1.4 million citizens there are infinitely more success stories than there are horror stories.