BY KIMONE THOMPSON Associate editor — features thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com Monday, November 09, 2015
IF information from families who have had the experience is to be believed, babies born before 27 weeks, or the beginning of the third trimester, are routinely not given the same level of care in Jamaican public hospitals as babies born at or after that milestone. In fact, according to some, they are simply left to die.
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| Ferguson... referred to the 19 premature babies who died from bacterial infections at two of the island's main public hospitals as |
"A good friend of mine had a baby at 25 and a half weeks and was told she could not get an incubator because her baby was not viable and that they save them for babies over 27 weeks. She sat and held her baby for about 12 hours until she died," said one woman in a social media post in a group called IslandMoms.
Another said: "Jamaican hospitals do not place premies under 27 weeks on respirators or in incubators. They leave them to die because they are not viable."
The subject has been dominating social and traditional media discussions since Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson referred to the 19 premature babies who died from bacterial infections at two of the island's main public hospitals as "not babies in the real sense".
Although Dr Ferguson apologised for the comment, it elicited widespread outrage and calls for his resignation. In an apparent surrender to public pressure, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on Friday announced his reassignment to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the shifting of Horace Dalley, minister without portfolio in charge of the public service, to the health ministry.
In a national broadcast last evening, Simpson Miller said she had instructed Dalley to correct shortcomings in the sector and review the reporting structure between the four regional authorities and his office. He starts in the new role today. more
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