By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 23-year-old accident victim who said he slept in a chair for two days waiting for treatment and a young mother whose citizenship bid has stalled for months because she is unable to retrieve her hospital records are among the latest to highlight frustration with conditions at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The motorbike victim, who declined to give his name and had visible injuries to his face and hands, described his experience at the country’s main public hospital as “dreadful,” saying overcrowding and lack of staff left him without a bed for days. “They had me in the little waiting section,” he said. “I couldn’t blame them. All the wards in the back there done full. They ain’t got no space to put the patients.”

He said doctors placed his foot in a cast on Friday night but could not release him because no one was available to conduct a CT scan. “My foot was cast up, but they couldn't really release me, because they didn’t have no doctors on to give me the CT scan I really needed,” he said. “I already take the X-ray. They couldn't see what really happened.”

The man said he went days without showering and described poor sanitary conditions. “You get two of the stalls ain’t working,” he said. “The door can’t close with sense, and it stink too.”

His more outspoken father, who camped outside the hospital during the ordeal, said his car was towed and he had to pay $100 to retrieve it.

The man’s ordeal comes amid growing criticism of conditions at the 405-bed facility, which has been forced to open virtual wards to manage patient overflow and staffing shortages. The hospital was recently thrust into controversy after a senior nurse was suspended for publicly decrying leaking roofs, rodent infestations, and supply shortages.

In another case yesterday, 25-year-old mother Charmenda Saint Jean said she has been waiting nearly three months for her medical records from the same hospital, a delay she said has stalled her citizenship application and left her future uncertain.

Her ordeal is the latest in a string of complaints about delays, inefficiency, and poor treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital.

“I have a child now, you know, I have to make sure things good, so I put in my stuff from August,” she said, adding that officials told her to return on September 3 to collect the document. Despite repeated visits, she said she has yet to receive it.

Frustrated and in tears, Ms Saint Jean alleged that only those who pay bribes get prompt assistance. “I ready to report now,” she said. “If you ain’t tipping them they ain’t helping you, that's (expletive) bad, bro. I put in my stuff from August. I ain’t have money to tip y’all.”

She said she has no job, no money, and no family support. “I ain’t come in there begging for no paper. I paying my $11. Y'all have to help people but why people gotta tip y'all,” she said. “I need my stuff to carry to immigration. I can’t work. I don’t have no job. I don’t have no parents.”

Her case highlights how bureaucratic delays at public institutions continue to disrupt lives. People born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents can apply for citizenship between their 18th and 19th birthdays, but those who miss that window must apply under different provisions where approval is not guaranteed.

Meanwhile, similar strains have been reported at the Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama, where East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson said a constituent complained that a family member waited for days in the Accident and Emergency Department due to a shortage of beds.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said overcrowding at PMH is “cyclic,” fluctuating between periods of relief and congestion, driven partly by patients frequently returning with non-communicable diseases. He said the government is working to ease the burden by constructing two new hospitals.

Public Hospitals Authority officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.