The North West Regional Health Authority says accusations the healthcare system has collapsed as a result of the NICU babies’ deaths, are “unfortunate and irresponsible.”
“The nation’s healthcare facilities are fully functional, including the NICU at the Port of Spain General Hospital and the thousands of healthcare professionals who go out to work night and day to care for the nation’s sick, remain dedicated and professional in carrying out their duties,” the NWRHA said in a release.
On Friday the Authority said it will treat any deaths outside the cluster between April 4th-9th as separate, but they will be investigated nevertheless.
“The root cause of the infant deaths are still to be determined, and will be. Of equal importance is finding out how and why these deaths occurred and the steps necessary to prevent a recurrence, ” the Authority said.
The Authority revealed statistics saying, in 2023 there were 2,169 live births across the entire NWRHA. Of that number 403 or 19% were admitted to the NICU. Of those admitted to the NICU, 19 died.
The neonatal mortality rate is 8 per 1000 live births, which was an increase from 2022 which was 6.2 per 1000 live births.
The NWRHA explained its NICU accepts babies from all regional health authorities. It said it admits around 33 babies per much. Some of the babies are smaller than 600 grams it explained and they spend close to three months in the NICU before being discharged.
“The smaller and more premature the baby is, the higher the risk of complications such as problems with brain development, cerebral palsy, blindness, chronic lung disease, deafness, infections and even death,” the NWRHA explained.