PM Extends Condolences to Families of Dead Babies

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has extended condolences to the families of the 19 babies who died from klebsiella and serratia infection at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), in Kingston, and the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), in Montego Bay.

Addressing Tuesday’s (October 27) sitting of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Simpson Miller noted that “all of us, on both sides, would have a feeling of sadness for what happened with the children.”

Reminding House members that “our children are our future,” the Prime Minister emphasised that, “we have a responsibility to ensure the protection of the future leaders of this country.”

She expressed the hope that Health Minister, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, and, by extension, the Ministry, “will look at the present system…to see what needs to be done, and that a system will be put in place (to ensure) that what happened will never ever happen again.”

For his part, Dr. Ferguson also expressed regret, and announced the establishment of a special unit within the Ministry to monitor both public and private sector facilities for newborn babies, and the commencement of a capacity building project, under the J$3 billion (€22 million) European Union (EU) grant-funded Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC).

The PROMAC aims to enhance the delivery of child and maternal health care at public medical facilities islandwide.