Tourism and Medical Care 24/7

Readers will remember the unnecessary death of Tom Seeto nearly a year ago. I publish this heart-breaking letter from his daughter Clarissa, out of respect for her and her family but also because of the very important message it contains for the Fiji Government, the Ministry of Heatlth and the Fiji tourism industry. Public health regulations should ensure that all airports and all hotels  provide at least basic services, and a qualified doctor should  always be on call at major hospitals. My question to Government and the Ministries of Health and Tourism is: What has been done since Tom Seeto's death to improve the situation that led to his untimely death while under your care?  Democracy is far less about votes and elections than it is about caring for people. See my earlier report on 27 September last year.    

Clarissa and Tom Seeto

Dear Crosbie,

It's been ten months since my father died. Its 3.36 am Sydney time and yet another sleepless night as I’m plagued by the pictures, moments of that day, never knowing or understanding how I came to lose my father in such tragic circumstances. Every day is ‘groundhog day’.  

I was rummaging through papers that I couldn’t bear to look at since that day and stumbled upon the contact details, scribbled on a vomit bag from the doctor aboard the flight that day. I contacted her, and my husband, my daughter and I went to meet her. 

She had asked Air Pacific for my details but they did not provide her with my information. Our meeting was extremely emotional as she has also suffered immensely from the events that occurred. The doctor informed me that she wrote a lengthy letter to Air Pacific and the airport about her disgust at the way the emergency was handled. 

Both the doctor and the paramedic were appalled by the lack of skills shown by the so called ‘nurses’ who boarded the plane. Like me, she has also been reliving every moment.

Suddenly, I felt human again. Fortunately, she had recorded timed medical accounts. As a result, I learned that we had not been waiting for 20 minutes for Dad to be evacuated as I had previously thought. WE HAD WAITED 45 MINUTES FOR DAD TO BE EVACUATED FROM AIR PACIFIC. 

She was informed that the reason ATS did not take Dad from the plane was because THERE WAS NO STRETCHER AVAILABLE TO REMOVE HIM. A gentleman in the seat in front of where Dad lay offered to carry him off and the nurses had said, “NO”.

I read the posts on your site and others and I have been most disturbed by comments people have made, in particular, “This is the first such incident, why are we making a big deal of it? It's not like, with all due respects, the dearly departed was not "of departing age". What is the big deal about” 

I am making ‘A BIG DEAL’ about my father’s death because it should never have happened. 

Raffles Gateway Hotel advertise 24 hour medical assistance as their service. Note what appears on Google. 

Fiji Hotel - Raffles website - Fiji www.rafflesfiji.com/‎Fiji Hotel - Raffles, Fiji, Fiji ... Hotel, Fiji. Stay at the ideally located Raffles Gateway Hotel and enjoy the privacy and comfort of your fully ... 24hr Medical Service ...

The morning my father fell ill, my daughter pointed to this statement in their hotel handbook. I showed it to the front desk manager and was told there was no doctor available. The hotel manager, Hari Singh, and the front desk manager, were fully aware of the circumstance but made no effort to visit the room and investigate the situation. 

Raffles Gateway hotel had a duty of care to us as their hotel guests. I have received a letter from Hari Singh that began with a condescending opening sentence which continued with a demeaning, belittling tone throughout the letter. There was no sincere offering of empathy or apologies. This was absolutely appalling behaviour from a person in a managerial position, considering the circumstances. Why has the Fiji Hotels Association not reprimanded Raffles? 

Nadi International Airport had 1.5 hours notice from the pilot that there was an emergency landing taking place with a sick passenger on board. How is it possible that NADI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DOES NOT HAVE ANY EMERGENCY PROCEDURES IN PLACE? 

When we landed in Sydney on our return, there was a sick passenger on board. Medics boarded the plane within minutes of landing and the person was evacuated. Why was my Father's body dumped on a gurney and taken off on a food catering truck with no medical facilities? Why were we not allowed to go with my father? Why we were not escorted to the hospital? Nadi airport has offered no answers and no apologies. 
 

The Fijian Police involved lacked any type of professionalism. I am still in disbelief that an officer could not spell, “Tom”. That they thought not once but twice it was my husband who had died.  And why did my daughter have to fill out the police report, whilst the officer sat there texting on his mobile? 

I had just finished renovating my entire home for my father to move in with us on our return from Fiji. Now, I have to look at a room built for him that he will never use. He will never get to live in comfort surrounded by his only daughter and only grandchildren. He will never have the right to have died peacefully, gracefully and with dignity.

Instead, he died surrounded by strangers in the most tragic of circumstances and had his body treated in the most disrespectful, inhumane manner. People are dismissing this ‘incident’ because  my father was elderly. If this had happened to a child, then there would be a public out roar,  I’m sure. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. My father was a healthy 73 year old, looking forward to a new life in his new home. 

I have every right to know what my father died from. I have spent sleepless nights researching frantically, going through his symptoms on that flight trying to find answers, trying to understand how someone was warm, living, breathing, talking to me and then dead. 

 I have to live with the image of my father’s soft brown aged eyes streaming with tears as I’m promising I will take care of him and take him home. I ache with the knowledge that my daughter watched her grandfather dying in front of her very eyes, watching the CPR and hearing his ribs crack. I see the blood seeping from the autopsy wound on his head, the white lining of the coffin stained with blood, every time I close my eyes. 

AND THEY SAY,”WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?”

As for the comment regarding the Australian High Commission, they were actually referring to the fact that they were aware of Fiji having poor emergency procedures in general not about my father’s case. They were not the only ones. Every government body I came into contact with was not surprised. 

I also learned that a 40 year old yachting couple were in Vuda when his wife collapsed on the deck. He called an ambulance for over an hour and was told they were coming and they never came. His wife died and he had to transport her deceased body to a hospital in a taxi. 

Another person was on holiday on one of the outer Islands when he cut himself swimming. He must have hit an artery and there was no medical help available and nobody knew how to apply pressure so he bled to death. 

A woman had an accident and was pulled from a wreckage of a car. On her return to Australia she had to have several more surgeries to rectify the surgery that she had in Fiji. Had emergency services cut her out of the car properly she would not have needed the surgery in the first place. 

I had been told this information as I had been explaining my story whilst in Fiji and this is what I was told by local people, and the Australian High Commission confirmed the stories they knew. 

My son cut his foot on coral whilst we were staying at a major resort on the Coral Coast the week before my Dad died. My son was bleeding profusely so I asked the resort if they could locate their first aid box. This took about 20 minutes to locate. When the person brought it to me, there wasn't even a band aid in it. The contents were minimal; most items were out of date. I told the manager that they really should keep a fully stocked first aid kit in a hotel of that size. 

At this time I thought, “Typical Fiji, the whole laid back attitude”. I thought it was kind of funny, once my sons bleeding had stopped. I realized later that even the simplest of emergency procedures were not practiced or seen as necessary. 

While I was still in Fiji, I went to the Fiji Times and met with a reporter, telling her my story. She refused to print the story because no one else would comment. Now, I would think that a plane making an emergency landing is pretty big news.

I’m angry at both the Fijian government and the Australian government. In Australia, Smart Traveller needs to be accurate in the information they have on their site. Actual information about medical and health facilities available in Fiji should be made clear so that people can make informed choices, after all many families travel there with small children each year. I noted that American Smart Traveller lists the hospitals available, distances etc.

Fiji is a huge tourist destination and yet medical facilities are poor. Why can’t the Fijian government introduce a levy for hotels/resorts of which there are many to give a percentage of their profits to invest in the hospitals and most definitely improving Nadi Hospital and Nadi/Suva morgue? Nadi morgue was like walking into a horror movie. Why allow a casino to be built when you don’t have appropriate health services?  Would this not also serve to help the local people, especially in remote areas.

Furthermore, Crosbie I appreciate your blog. It’s now 5.22 am and I’m tired.  So many things went wrong that day and all I want is answers. 

Kind regards

Clarissa Seeto