Pregnant Woman Struck by Hit-and-Run Driver in Ladyville

A Ladyville couple counting down to the birth of their new baby was struck by tragedy last night as the pregnant mother was hit by a vehicle. Just after eight o’ clock Glenda Estrada was returning from the shop when vehicle hit her and drove off without rendering aid. Her husband, Nelson Pech told Love News he was at their nearby home along with their other three-year-old child when the incident took place. 

Pech also said that police who had responded to the scene refused to render aid as he stayed on the ground trying to coax his wife to keep her conscious. Frank Young, a resident of the area said that he was passing by when he learned of the incident. Young said that when he saw authorities refusing to render aid and no ambulance in sight, he knew he had to act.

But what was the issue? Why were emergency services delayed in in their arrival? That’s a question we posed to Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard earlier today.

Bernard Wagner, Minister of Health and Wellness: “One of the things when it comes to EMS services we have always had a challenge. In the Belize district especially there is this where you have BERT and different arrangements I think we have to look at how that can be strengthened in terms of the response time and so forth. In any emergency, one minute may seem like an hour whether it is fire, whether it is an accident, whether despite the case we have to look at that. And there are also ways that we are looking at the ministry to enhance EMS services and training for our personnel. So for example, Ladyville has a health clinic, they don’t have a hospital in that area everything is centralized in the city. But maybe we have to start to look at the fleets, the number of fleets that are available from the government side and see how best we can work along with BERT because BERT is the one that we have an arrangement MOU with for the Belize district in terms of how they are providing the service to the Belizean people. So I heard about it. I read the briefing on social media but I definitely don’t want to fully respond to that because I don’t know all the details but I definitely will look into it and see what may have been the issue. And there are always have to find ways how we could address and improve those situations.”

Up to news time, we understand that Estrada was still in the intensive care unit at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Pech is appealing to the public for financial assistance as Estrada will be needing surgery. Those wishing to assist can reach him at the number 662-8856.