KINGSTON, Jamaica – Young Jamaica, the youth arm of the Jamaica Labour Party, says Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson’s comments in the House of Representatives that the babies who died as a result of a bacterial outbreak were “not babies in the real sense” is a “wicked, insensitive and cruel” comment.

The babies were among 19 that have died since June at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and the University Hospital of the West Indies.

In a press release Wednesday, Young Jamaica said the minister’s comments are the clearest example of his “negligence, breach of public trust and gross insensitivity” in this escalating scandal.

The release also said that little value was placed on the lives of the babies because they were premature and that the manner in which Jamaicans were informed by the ministry of the incidents was “callous and cold”.

The organisation has urged churches, pro-life groups and NGOs to be united and condemn Ferguson in this matter.

Young Jamaica President Howard Chamberlain said: “This matter is now beyond the competence of politics and political operatives. The society at large must condemn this man.”

He added that getting rid of Ferguson is necessary to restore confidence.

“It is not enough for the prime minister to take less than two minutes to address this. She must dismiss him!” Chamberlain said.