There are new and troubling questions about the care dialysis patients are receiving at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH).

A mother-of-three, Mariatou Barry on Saturday died hours after arriving at the hospital for her thrice-weekly haemodialysis to filter wastes and water from her blood.

A source disclosed to What's On-Gambia that the young mother died as a result of negligence by the doctors at the Dialysis Unit.

"Mariatou was doing very well in the morning and she was chatting with everyone in the room but suddenly she started complaining about pain and when they called the Cuban Doctor on duty he refused to come and said he was far away until the poor lady died right there in the room," said our source.

He added: "Dr Muhammed Sohna came to check on her later but it was already late. The Cuban doctors at the EFSTH do whatever they like and nobody says anything to them.

"They usually come to work in the morning and before 1 PM they all go home and during weekends they don't even come to work. If you're in the Dialysis Unit and get sick during the weekends, there is no doctor to attend to you. Mariatou was not even taken to the emergency room, she died right there on her dialysis bed."

Our source, who regularly visits the hospital further disclosed: "The Dialysis Unit in The Gambia is another "Harr Yallah".  I was once there to get a spot for a family member for her dialysis. They told me it was full and the only way they can get a space is if someone dies, which means they expect everyone there to die at some point.

"The Unit is poorly managed and electricity keeps going on and off while these poor people are receiving their dialysis. They don't even have enough beds, sometimes patients would sit on chairs for hours."

Mariatou was laid to rest on Sunday in Basse, where she was living with her husband and three children.