The North West Regional Health Authority says any babies that died in the Port-of-Spain General Hospital NICU outside of the period April 4 to April 9 must be investigated separately.
Freedom Law Chambers led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan has brought cases relating to babies that died in February and March as well, which took the baby death toll at the Port-of-Spain Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to 11.
However, the NWRHA is specifying that even though the parents of 11 deceased babies have issued pre-action protocol letters against the authority, it is only treating seven deaths as part of the cluster.
“We fully understand and respect the parents’ right to seek legal advice and to take legal action in this matter, and we are committed to working through the legal process, but each baby’s circumstances must be examined carefully in its own right and in particular anything occurring outside of the cluster in April must be considered separately,” the Authority said in a release.
The NWRHA said it was constrained in what it can say given the legal challenges, however, it noted, “the NICU is operating in accordance with established standards.” “The NWRHA has been and will continue to be fully transparent in these difficult and painful circumstances, as we work to better understand the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these premature babies and we look forward to cooperating fully with the independent investigation,” it added.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said there would be a three-man team from the Pan American Health Organisation coming to investigate the incident.
“The Government has invited PAHO to find persons to come here and examine the performance of our department, of our protocols, our processes, and tell us as professionals in the business where we fell down,” he said. Attempts to contact officials from PAHO were unsuccessful yesterday.
Dr Darrel Jones, lead of the NWRHA’s Infection Prevention Control Unit was sent on administrative leave on Wednesday to facilitate what the authority called the transparent investigation. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing. However, the NWRHA said on Wednesday, “as the investigation matures, the NWRHA may make further recommendations for suspension if deemed necessary to advance the investigation.”
On April 11, the NWRHA in a statement issued, revealed that babies died as a result of infections. The authority explained then laboratory tests detected the presence of three dangerous organisms—Serratia marcesens, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Klebsiella aerogenes.
It added in its first statement detailing the deaths of the babies, that between April 4 and 7, NICU staff observed a rapid deterioration in the clinical status of several neonates. It said upon recognising the severity of the situation, the medical team immediately initiated infectious diseases and control protocols for the treatment of late-onset neonatal sepsis.