Gov’t pressed to reveal PAHO report on newborn deaths
Published:Wednesday | January 18, 2023 | 12:30 AM
Almost two months since the Government acknowledged receipt of a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) report on hospital nurseries in the wake of a cluster of newborn deaths, there are fresh concerns that the findings are yet to be published.
Technical assistance was sought from PAHO regarding infection prevention and control measures amid a bacterial outbreak that caused the deaths of 13 neonates at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital last year.
Opposition Spokesperson on Health Dr Morais Guy said, in a Gleaner interview Tuesday, that the review of the report by technical officials “ought not to take that long”.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness reported on November 24, 2022, that it had received the PAHO report.
“What also came to the country at that time was that the findings of PAHO correlated with what was done with our own local people in terms of what actually took place, in terms of the bacteria and the measures that they had taken at each stage,” Guy said.
The opposition spokesman, who is also a medical doctor, said the delay in making the report public raises many questions.
“Is the report damning to the Government of Jamaica? Is the country going to get the full report? Because we would not be satisfied with extracts of it or any redacting of the report by the ministry before it is shared with the country,” Guy said.
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton referred The Gleaner to Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacqueline Bisasor McKenzie, who redirected the newspaper to the ministry’s public relations department.
The ministry has not responded to questions sent to the ministry on Monday.
The PAHO report spanned the operations of special-care nurseries at Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Bustamante Hospital for Children, and Spanish Town Hospital.
Meanwhile, there have been no further neonatal deaths from the bacterial outbreak at Victoria Jubilee Hospital last year, the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) has said.
The July deaths alone, nine from Klebsiella pneumonaie and two from Acinetobacter, represented a mortality rate of 43 per cent from 21 infections.
A staffing crisis was among the factors blamed for the death of the babies with a reported staff to patient ratio of 1:7, where best practice is 1:2.
SERHA has responsibility for the country’s chief maternity hospital where approximately 400 to 500 babies are born each month.
Regional Technical Director Dr Sandra Chambers-Gause told The Gleaner Monday that there has been “minimal improvement” in staffing, even though the region has been fast-tracking applications for the hiring of nurses.
“We still have a limited number of nurses because as we are hiring, nurses are leaving. There is no end in sight as to the attrition that is going on,” she lamented.
Chambers-Gause shared that Victoria Jubilee has been utilising sessions to maintain a viable staff-to-patient ratio.
‘Sessions’, a term used by doctors and nurses, are four- or eight-hour stints outside of usual work.
“We still have a lot of babies in the nursery. We were in our peak season and we are supposed to be trending down now, but the numbers have remained steady,” the regional technical director said.
Chambers-Gause said a number of the recommendations that were made during various audits and walk-throughs have been implemented.
“Supplies have been increased in areas where there were limited supplies. The only challenge – which is a challenge we don’t have control over – is the inconsistent availability of some items which is due to supply-chain issues,” the regional technical director said.