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Philippines
Husband of Filipino NHS nurse who died of COVID-19 calls on UK gov't to do more to protect health workers
Philippines
Husband of Filipino NHS nurse who died of COVID-19 calls on UK gov't to do more to protect health workers
Husband of Filipino NHS nurse who died of COVID-19 calls on UK gov't to do more to protect health workers
Published Apr 16, 2020 02:51 am
By Noreen Jazul
The husband of a Filipino National Health Service (NHS) nurse who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has called on the government of the United Kingdom to do more to protect its frontline medical workers.
Messages of support for the NHS (National Health Service) are seen in windows of a building close to St Thomas' Hospital in central London on April 9, 2020
(Photo by Isabel Infantes / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) Mario Gatinao told SkyNews in an exclusive interview that his wife, Amor, was “neglected” by their local health authorities. "I called the ambulance and they came to the house but refused to admit her to the hospital. They told her to take paracetamol. Her whole body was in pain. She couldn't eat. She was diabetic and also had a heart condition,” Mario told SkyNews. "I don't know why the government did not do more to protect NHS workers like my wife. She was neglected. My children's lives will never be the same again,” he added. Gatinao said he rushed Amor to a nearby hospital after the paramedics “left” them without doing something to his wife, despite his “begging.” Amor spent about eight to nine days at St. Mary’s Hospital before she died, according to Gatinao. “The last thing she told me was she wanted to go on to a ventilator,” Gatinao said. Amor, who has served the NHS for 18 years, died on March 30. She was the fifth Filipino nurse in the UK and the 44th NHS worker to have died due to COVID-19, SkyNews reported. Gatinao said his 50-year-old wife probably contracted COVID-19 while working at St Charles Hospital in west London. Gatinao said his wife’s death has caused him and his three children “unbearable pain." Amor’s eldest daughter Sophia said she expected her mother to “get through” the illness but she was already in “so much pain." “We are so scared. We weren't able to hold her and to tell her goodbye. No one can give us a hug and a hug is all I and my family need right now,” Sophia told SkyNews. The London Ambulance Service said an ambulance crew responded to Gatinao’s call and treated his wife. “But did not take them to the hospital. We are unaware of any further contact from that address. We would like to express our sympathy to the family at this very difficult time,” a spokesman for the London Ambulance Service told SkyNews.
Messages of support for the NHS (National Health Service) are seen in windows of a building close to St Thomas' Hospital in central London on April 9, 2020(Photo by Isabel Infantes / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) Mario Gatinao told SkyNews in an exclusive interview that his wife, Amor, was “neglected” by their local health authorities. "I called the ambulance and they came to the house but refused to admit her to the hospital. They told her to take paracetamol. Her whole body was in pain. She couldn't eat. She was diabetic and also had a heart condition,” Mario told SkyNews. "I don't know why the government did not do more to protect NHS workers like my wife. She was neglected. My children's lives will never be the same again,” he added. Gatinao said he rushed Amor to a nearby hospital after the paramedics “left” them without doing something to his wife, despite his “begging.” Amor spent about eight to nine days at St. Mary’s Hospital before she died, according to Gatinao. “The last thing she told me was she wanted to go on to a ventilator,” Gatinao said. Amor, who has served the NHS for 18 years, died on March 30. She was the fifth Filipino nurse in the UK and the 44th NHS worker to have died due to COVID-19, SkyNews reported. Gatinao said his 50-year-old wife probably contracted COVID-19 while working at St Charles Hospital in west London. Gatinao said his wife’s death has caused him and his three children “unbearable pain." Amor’s eldest daughter Sophia said she expected her mother to “get through” the illness but she was already in “so much pain." “We are so scared. We weren't able to hold her and to tell her goodbye. No one can give us a hug and a hug is all I and my family need right now,” Sophia told SkyNews. The London Ambulance Service said an ambulance crew responded to Gatinao’s call and treated his wife. “But did not take them to the hospital. We are unaware of any further contact from that address. We would like to express our sympathy to the family at this very difficult time,” a spokesman for the London Ambulance Service told SkyNews.