KINGSTON, Jamaica – Newly appointed Minister of Health Horace Dalley on Thursday paid tribute to colleague minister Dr Fenton Ferguson for the four years he led the ministry with “distinction”.

Before addressing senior members of the health sector at a National Training Seminar on the Zika virus, which is now under way at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, Dalley acknowledged the work the Ministry of Health has done under Ferguson’s leadership.

“You all have done tremendous work in the last four years in many areas of the health care delivery system, and my colleague, in fact, led the team and led it with distinction,” Dalley said.

He said several things have been accomplished over the four years and committed to ensuring that all that was achieved while Ferguson headed the ministry is “properly documented”.

Dalley took over the health portfolio in early November after Dr Ferguson was reassigned to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Ferguson’s reassignment came on the heels of the ‘dead babies scandal’, which rocked the People’s National Party administration following the deaths of 19 premature babies at two public hospitals as a result of bacterial outbreaks.

Though he praised the health team, Dalley was also frank in telling them that they dropped the ball in some areas and called on them to recommit.

Anika Richards