19 Babies now dead from Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections - How More Babies will Die as Drought continues

“There are misery index issues that still impact the sector, and I admit to that. There are some challenges in the sector, and I admit to that. But let us not begin to beat the system down for our people to lose confidence in a system that is better than many other beyond the Caribbean,”

Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, confirmed this in Parliament on Monday October 26th 2015

The Health Sector seems to be in the spotlight all of a sudden. I'm sure my fellow Miconians at the MICO College University where I'm doing my Professional Diploma in Teaching know why I have no intention of having Children in Jamaica.....like ever!

Jamaica seems captivated by the death of some eighteen (18) prematurely born babies from Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections as I'd reported in my blog article entitled “18 Jamaican babies die from Klebsiella and Serratia - How lack of Water caused UHWI and Cornwall Hospital Babies Deaths”

It's now been confirmed that a total of nineteen (19) out of the forty two (42) babies have died from Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections, the addition death occurring at the Cornwall Regional Hospital as reported in the article “Another Baby Dies At Cornwall Regional Hospital, Bacterial Outbreak Blamed”, published Tuesday October 27, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner

Minster of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, confirmed this in Parliament on Monday October 26th 2015 with some additional statistics on the death of the babies as reported in the article “19th baby Dies”, published Wednesday, October 28, 2015 By Balford Henry Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

According to Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson since June 2015:

1.      483 babies have been admitted to hospitals’ special care nurseries

2.      45 babies infected with Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections

3.      9.3% of babies infected with Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections

4.      19 babies died from Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections

5.      42.2% of babies infected with Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections

He also made an interesting mention about the weight of the babies:

1.      7 months or younger

2.      0.91 Kg (2lb) weight

Thus implies that they were probably prematurely born baby or “preemie” as Jamaican call babies with low birth weight, which would explain the early time of death. Hopefully an autopsy will reveal how exactly did the sepsis take hold within the babies immune system, as it's not clear why these prematurely born babies died when other lived.

19th Babies dies at Cornwall Regional Hospital - Call for Resignation ignored

Still, this was hidden from the public, the main argument of the Opposition.

So far only the CEO of the UHWI (University Hospital of the West Indies), Dr Cecil White has resigned on Tuesday October 27^th 2015 as reported in the article “University Hospital Of The West Indies Boss Resigns; First Casualty After Baby Deaths”, published Tuesday October 27, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.  
Additionally two (2) other managers at the UHWI have also resigned, bringing to three (3) the number of persons who have demitted office over this incident even as Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson refuses to resign as reported in the article “Two UHWI Senior Managers To Resign Over #DeadBabiesScandal”, published Monday October 26, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.

However, the Minster of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson is yet to resign, as he claims that calls for him to step down are politically motivated as reported in the article “Health Minister Rejects Calls To Resign Over Baby Death Scandal”, Published Thursday October 22, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

Still calls are growing stronger for him to resign as a group, #AllBabiesMatter, made up of mostly women, is calling for his resignation, despite strenuous support from his constituents as reported in the article “#AllBabiesMatter - Online group calls for health minister’s resignation”, published Saturday, October 31, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.

The CMO (Chief Medical Officer) in the Ministry of Health Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse is also yet to resign.

This despite evidence and her admission that she'd received the reports of the death of the nineteen babies on Monday September 7th 2015 as reported in the article “CMO Will Not Resign As A Result Of Dead Babies Scandal”, published Thursday October 29, 2015 by Edmond Campbell, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

Public Hospitals have made no changes to prevent infection spread - Statistical Data implies expansion of rate of spread

Nothing has actually been reported as changing at the UHWI and the Cornwall Regional Hospital, which still have the problems as reported in the health Audit in my blog article entitled “Audit of Public Health Care System revealed - How the Minister of Health plans to correct these problems”.

This makes it harder to believe the CMO and the Minster of Health, as they’ve yet to report of improvements to the Public Hospitals that would imply that they are acting on the Health Audit, which would reduce the possibility of even more babies becoming infected with Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections.

Worse, the emphasis on the death of prematurely born babies implies that the Minster of Health is suggesting that these babies were fated to die. It also sound as if only strong babies are supposed to survive, as they are less than the required 10% to be statistically significant.

Albeit true, the fact that the information appears to be hidden from the public for so long is troubling to the Public. So too is reports of doctors who spoke about the problems with the Health Sector being prevented from practicing medicine!

Albeit a statistical anomaly, the hidden nature suggests that there may be more than the number of deaths reported. Also the number of infected is higher than 10% and nothing has been reported as having changed at the UHWI and Cornwall Regional Hospital to prevent the spread.

We may soon hear of an expansion of this infection to more than the forty two (42) and even more hospital as the drought continues and the rains fall, setting up Jamaica for other diseases as predicted by Dr. Michael Taylor in my blog article entitled “Dr. Taylor links Climate Change to increase in Diseases in Jamaica - Dengue, Pink Eye and Zika Virus coming and Asthma rising”.

Something tell me this Health Sector Scandal of 2015 will keep expanding as more and more of these forty two (42) babies infected with the Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infection start dying.