The Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) has reviewed its protocols for dealing with NICU babies following the deaths of babies at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s NICU.
Speaking at a post-Executive Council Media Briefing yesterday, Secretary for the Division of Health, Wellness, and Social Protection Dr Faith B Yisrael said Tobago saw the need to ensure it will not be at a disadvantage in the event of a similar bacterial outbreak at any of its NICU departments.
“At the beginning of these reports, one of the things that I did was to reach out to the TRHA to ensure they were following all of the infection control protocols. They were doing everything that they needed to do. Our protocols were in place and being used.
“I have also subsequently said let us make sure one more time that we are doing everything we can so that we can beef up the system, and if anything can be beefed up, we can do that,” B Yisrael added.
Of the babies that died at the PoSGH, one was transferred from the Scarborough General Hospital for further intensive care. While B Yisrael noted that Tobago is working to become equipped to provide additional care to NICU patients requiring above level two care, the upgrade might not be critical at this time.
She said, “To see what we can do and to see if it’s even feasible and financially doable at this time, compared to simply taking those babies to Trinidad when you look at the volume of preemies that we get, it may not be worth it at this point when we do the assessment and spend the money to get us up to level three and four when we do not normally have babies that fall under that category anyway.”
She said there are strict safety protocols that are followed when transporting a baby to Trinidad that needs NICU care level 3 and above.