Health ministry seeks to dampen public concern about capacity to care for premature babies

 

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie has asserted that hospitals across the island are fully equipped to provide adequate care for all premature babies, despite mounting concern about the recent deaths of 24 premature babies at Kingston's Victoria Jubilee Hospital.

 

Dr. Bisasor McKenzie, speaking Friday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, said the Ministry of Health & Wellness has made significant progress in increasing the availability of equipment. 

 

But, Dr Alfred Dawes, Opposition Spokesman on Health, also speaking on Beyond the Headlines, noted that staff at VJH have long been complaining about a lack of resources and "the need to hire more staff and retain staff."

 

He cited the lack of a portable chest ex-ray machine at VJH, used, he explained to diagnose chest injuries associated with the use of ventilators and chest infections, and declared that these tests "can't get done because nobody bought a portable chest x-ray (machine), so if a baby, who develops some respiratory issues, they have to send them to KPH (located on the same property)." 

 

He cited other areas of deep deficiencies and, when medical professionals are forced to improvise, it can expose them to potential legal liability.

 

"When you have staff working in those environments, where they have to be using a flashlight to diagnose whether there's air outside of the lungs, you are setting them up for medical-legal issues," he elaborated.