Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe, the shadow Health Minister, yesterday called for the resignation of Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh following the deaths of seven babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
At the UNC’s weekly media briefing yesterday, Bodoe, an obstetrician said since Deyalsingh takes credit for the good work at the neonatal clinics, he should also shoulder the responsibility now that something has gone wrong.
“If the minister truly believes the words he uttered in Parliament that he was personally responsible for the infant mortality rates dropping in 2016, then equally he has to take personal responsibility for this tragedy at the North West Regional Health Authority. I think it is only fair, so in the circumstances, he should do the honourable thing and resign,” he said.
Bodoe’s call for Deyalsingh to resign comes a day after president of the T&T Registered Nurses Association Idi Stuart said heads must roll for the infant deaths.
In Parliament on Friday, Deyalsingh apologised to the parents of the seven babies who died of neonatal sepsis at the NICU between April 4 and 7.
He said the NWRHA has always implemented stringent infection prevention and control practices, which are standard in the NICU.
On Saturday, attorney Anand Ramlogan SC issued a pre-action protocol class action letter to the NWRHA on behalf of the parents of the seven babies. Yesterday he issued another letter on behalf of a Tobagonian mother whose baby died on April 6, four days after she was born.
Bodoe said he wants Deyalsingh to come clean and disclose when exactly he learnt about the deaths. The Opposition MP said he had received information that bacteria that caused the neonatal sepsis was found under sinks.
He said the incident undermined the public’s trust and confidence in the country’s healthcare system and asked whether the deaths were due to a shortage of equipment.
Bodoe referred to said a 2013 report by the Maternity Services Committee which contained several recommendations to address infant mortality, including a nurse-to-patient ratio of one to one for ventilated babies, one nurse to two infants at the high dependency unit and one nurse to four neonates in special care.
Stuart and Bodoe have expressed concerns about the possible contamination of the NICU by improper procedures. On Saturday Stuart said the incident raised concerns about other irregularities at health institutions, including medical staff (not nurses) entering sterilised areas with unsterilised clothing.
“We would also want to call on some of our medical colleagues, nursing personnel, for instance, who do not and are not allowed to walk the hallways of the hospital with their intensive care outfits on.
“You remain within your department, and if you’re leaving your department, you take off your coverall. We have witnessed… and we would definitely call upon other categories of persons to discontinue walking in and out of these departments, which are supposed to be very sterilised,” Stuart said.
Bodoe, who has more than 30 years of experience as an obstetrician and gynaecologist and spent 15 months at the NICU said more could have and should have been done.
He said as a former head of the South-Western Regional Health Authority, the deaths pained him.
“As an obstetrician and gynaecologist for 35-plus years, I care for women and deliver their babies. I understand their hopes and aspirations. I can certainly understand the anguish, despair and disappointment that the mothers of those seven dead babies are feeling.”