In Jamaica: 19th baby dies from infection

(Jamaica Observer) Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson confirmed in Parliament on Tuesday that the number of baby deaths related to the current bacterial infection crisis has risen to 19.

In a statement to the House of Representatives, Dr Ferguson said that 483 babies have been admitted to hospitals’ special care nurseries since the crisis started in June.

He said that 45 or 9.3 per cent have had their illnesses attributed to sepsis cases and total deaths have risen to 19, which is 42.2 per cent of the total.

He said that most of the babies who died as a result of Klebsiella and Serratia bacterial infections were less than seven months old, and weighed less than two pounds.

The Ministry of Health last week called on health authorities outside of Jamaica for help in the wake of the outbreak of bacterial infections at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in Kingston and the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay.

On Tuesday, dozens of Dr Ferguson’s supporters from his St Thomas Eastern constituency and some Corporate Area constituencies, dressed in his campaign Tshirt, flooded the street at the southern end of Gordon House to give him support as he responded to intensive questioning from several Opposition MPs.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness maintained that the health budget cut in 2012/13 contributed to a breakdown in the ministry’s sanitation standards and led to the deaths.