18 Jamaican babies have died from the Klebsiella and
Serratia Bacteria over a four month span from July 2015 to October 2015 as
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”.
Pressure is now coming to bear on Minister of Health Dr.
Fenton Ferguson to resign based on comments in the Jamaica Observer Talk Back Vox Pop
as detailed in “What
will it take for Dr Ferguson to resign?”, published Friday, October 23,
2015, The Jamaica Observer.
Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson has strenuously
resisted calls to resign, saying that he acted on the information when he was
made aware of it and that calls for his resignation 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.
In fact, the UHWI (University Hospital of the West Indies)
has take the fall for the death of the 18 babies out of the 42 infected with the
Klebsiella and Serratia bacteria as reported in the article “UHWI
Takes Blame For Keeping Ferguson In Dark Over Baby Deaths, Delaying Response”,
published Wednesday October 21, 2015, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
According to Chairman of the board of the University
Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Sterling Soares, the UHWI was slow in
informing the Ministry of Health about the spread of the Klebsiella and
Serratia bacteria as reported in the article “UHWI
blamed for not informing minister of deadly bacteria”, published Friday,
October 23, 2015, The Jamaica
Observer.
Mr. Soares states that had acting head of the Department of
Microbiology at UHWI, Professor John Lindo, reported the infection earlier,
they could have called in the Calvary, that being CARPHA (Caribbean Public
Health Agency) and PAHO (Pan-American Health Organization), quote: “Professor
John Lindo, acting head of the Department of Microbiology at UHWI, reported
that the situation was not brought to the attention of the MOH (Ministry of
Health) and by extension the minister in a timely manner. A timely report would
have triggered a series of actions by the MOH and our international partners
including CARPHA and PAHO”.
JMDA Dr Alfred
Dawes resigns - Backlash from whistle blowing having a negative effect
Meanwhile president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors
Association (JMDA) Dr Alfred Dawes has resigned, due to his SERHA (South East
Regional Health Authority) contract expiring and his plans to further his
studies as noted in the article “Resignation
not linked to baby deaths, former JMDA head says”, published Wednesday,
October 21, 2015, The Jamaica
Observer.
He instead states that the problems as exposed in the Health
Audit are really a failing of the entire Health Sector and blame should be
shouldered by all as noted in the article “Former
JMDA President Says Blame Should Be Shared In Babies' Deaths”, published
Thursday October 22, 2015, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
But if he's just opting not to renew his SERHA post as well
as presidency of the JMDA, then why are reports surfacing suggesting that he's
being blocked from taking on new position in the Public Health Sector as noted
in the article “State
blocks Dr Dawes’ applications for senior positions”, published Friday,
October 23, 2015 BY KIMBERLEY
HIBBERT Observer staff reporter, The
Jamaica Observer
So why is this happening?
Ministry of Health
knew about Klebsiella and Serratia Bacteria - How 18 baby deaths may become the
Public Health Scandal of 2015
The Ministry of Health may be vexed with his revelations in
May 2015 of what was going on in the Public Health Sector it relates to their
working conditions as reported in my blog article
entitled “JMDA
laments bad conditions in Public Hospitals - How MOH Audit will reveal Doctors
and Pharmacists stealing Supplies for Private Practice”.
The Ministry of Health's own Audit, which has yet to be
release to the Jamaican public, confirms this to be true based on the details
that they'd revealed as noted in my blog article
entitled “Audit
of Public Health Care System revealed - How the Minister of Health plans to
correct these problems”.
The question on my mind and possibly some Jamaicans is
whether the unreleased Public Health Sector Audit would have revealed that the
infection was occurring. Worse, since the Ministry of Health has it and the
Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson most likely has seen it, wouldn't that
mean he knew about the problem but said nothing?
Somehow, there seems to be an ongoing cover-up involving the
Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson and the UHWI and the Cornwall Regional
Hospital involving the senior leadership.
It also appears that more than the General Election is at
stake. Legal action may soon be taken by all eighteen (18) mothers with regard
to the death of their babies and the other twenty four (24) mothers may join
them if their babies die or are affected.
If this occurs, not only will the PNP (People’s National
Party) lose the General Election, no matter what date it is called, but we may
be looking at the Public Health Scandal of 2015 that'll be making news in the
2016 Year in Review and for months to come, as Public Health is service paid
for by Jamaica Taxpayer.
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