Update | Woman dies after receiving third-degree burns in kitchen blast
Published:Wednesday | December 9, 2020 | 8:51 PM
Jason Cross/Gleaner Writer
Family and friends of 25-year-old Kerry Ann Collins wept today as she succumbed to third-degree burns she received during a kitchen blast at her Palm Grove apartment off Spanish Town Road in Kingston two Fridays ago.
Collins was scheduled to be airlifted to the United States today for treatment.
Earlier today, she suffered a cardiac arrest and became unresponsive.
Her bereaved relatives say her death highlights the need for a burn unit at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where she had been admitted.
WATCH: Woman hurt in kitchen blast
Robert White, managing director for Sanmera Paper Products, where Collins was a "treasured" employee, agreed.
"That makes me want to lead and champion the cause for us to come together and build a burn unit at the KPH. We need to come together as corporate Jamaica and fund the building of a burn unit at KPH.
Meanwhile, her mother, Delcita Anderson, was overcome with grief.
Philanthropist, Stephen Josephs, had helped to organise funding to transport Collins to a United States hospital in Florida.
Josephs said the development was sad.
"It highlights so much wrong going on in this country," he said.
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told The Gleaner recently, that the University Hospital of the West Indies, has a unit that deals with burn victims.
However, in cases where persons receive extreme burns, arrangements would have to be made overseas, for surgeries to be carried out, especially when tissue and other reconstructions have to be made.
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