Patients’ advocate Allan DeSilva, whose wife Sylvia died following a long battle with complications to her illness, has vowed to carry on with her fight for an independent commission to look into the Bermuda Hospitals Board.The Bermuda Healthcare Advocacy Group now plans to petition residents to add pressure to their call for a review of King Edward VII Memorial management.“It’s been a hard haul and a very stressful fight with the hospital,” Mr DeSilva said. “But I wanted to keep going and be an advocate for Sylvia. She can’t fight for herself any more, but I will, for as long as I can.”The group is demanding “more accountability”, but Mr DeSilva acknowledged that physicians and hospitals faced a difficult bind with issues of insurance and liability.“I want to see them being more accountable for wrongdoings and mistakes. This is the whole crux of the issue, because they won’t admit when, in my opinion, they do make mistakes. When it happens, they have to come forward and be more accountable to patients on this Island.”He said an independent commission was needed “to find out where the complaints are going and what’s being done”.Mrs DeSilva was left fighting for her life after contracting the rare and dangerous condition nephrogenic systemic fibrosis in 2011. She was treated at KEMH, as well as overseas, for a pre-existing condition and the couple alleged that improper treatment reacted with her dialysis, leading to the severe illness that ended her life on August 7.While little is really known about what causes NSF, a syndrome that involves fibrosis of skin, joints, eyes, and internal organs, it has been linked to gadolinium, which is a contrast agent used in MRI scans for patients with severe kidney failure.Mrs DeSilva’s grieving husband said overseas specialists were conducting an exam of medical samples to look into what caused her death. No investigation is currently underway at the local coroner’s office, a spokeswoman said.Mr DeSilva also said his group had heard from “hundreds of people”, who were dissatisfied with hospital treatment or alleging neglect, since it was set up last year.Fellow campaigner Mark Selley told The Royal Gazette: “We want the Governor to appoint a commission, just like we saw recently with the prison system, so that someone independent can look into the hospital. Whatever format it takes will be better than this present review they are undertaking.”Hospital management told the group earlier this year that the facility’s own advocacy office would look into patients’ grievances, but the group say they feel deliberately ignored.“They feel that we’re just going to walk off into the night,” Mr Selley said.“I ran the Bermuda Stroke Association and I have a passion for healthcare. I’m not letting this go.”The group “started off with individual patient complaints [but has since] moved on to the hospital’s board itself”, he added.Charging that a review funded by the BHB would be “flawed with biases and confidentiality propaganda”, the group called for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate issues ranging from executive salaries and bonuses, to justifications for KEMH’s fifth-floor upgrades.A BHB spokeswoman responded: “Our corporate and clinical governance review will be carried out by a third party experienced in working with hospitals in this way. The process and the full report will be reviewed and publicly commented on by the Ombudsman of Bermuda.”She added that executives no longer receive performance pay and the $3.7 million fifth-floor refurbishment was completed in 2009.The BHB spokeswoman extended condolences to Mr DeSilva and his family on his wife’s death.“We cannot comment publicly with regards to individual matters, but patients or families who wish to complain about their care can contact BHB’s patient advocacy office,” she added.Useful website: www.bermudahospitals.bm.