WHILE a few of the mothers whose babies died in the recent bacteria outbreak at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) were outside the facility’s gates protesting yesterday, the hospital’s new board was facing the media for the first time since they were appointed on November 17.

The mothers said they were protesting against the UHWI and the Ministry of Health’s failure to provide meaningful responses to their needs, while the new board presented a unified front as they detailed their plan of action for the way forward as a health care facility.

After congregating with placards outside the gates of UHWI, the mothers took their protest to the Ministry of Health in New Kingston.

Meanwhile, at the UHWI’s press conference, chairman of the hospital’s board, James Moss Solomon, said he was unable to discuss the individual findings of any medical investigations with regards to the deaths of the infants. He did say, however, that hospital personnel were fully involved with the ongoing investigations with the Office of the Public Defender and that at the appropriate time the findings would be addressed.

This is apparently in line with the board’s pledge to be open and transparent, which was discussed at the hospital’s press conference yesterday to launch its new thrust in its policy and focus on health.

The board chair said they have taken up the challenge from newly appointed Minister of Health Horace Dalley to bring renewed focus to operations in the health sector, and have come up with a plan to be executed in the short, medium and long term.

In the short term, the board chair said their immediate task is to address how patient-centred care is provided within the capacity of the facilities, equipment and human resources available.

“This is a target of urgent attention, especially against the background of expressed public concerns as to the safety of neonates or premature babies, and the due diligence taken in their care,” Moss Solomon said. “Our immediate area of focus was the need to provide assurance that everything is being done by our hospitals to prevent infections, wherever possible, and to address them effectively when they do occur.”

Nineteen of 42 infected premature babies died due to an outbreak of klebsiella and serratia in the Neonatal Intensive Care units at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and the UHWI leading up to October. During the press conference yesterday, Dr Carl Bruce, acting senior director of clinical services at the UHWI, said that situation has since been “cauterised”.

In the meantime, Moss Solomon explained that the hospital’s administration has moved to implement recommendations coming out of a review of operations and procedures. He reported that except for certain physical structural changes that need to be attended to, most have been completed.

“This is limited by the fact that the unit is at capacity at this time, and wherever possible, we are accepting critical transfers from other hospitals,” Moss Solomon said.

He insisted that all procedural matters have been reviewed and that strict measures have been implemented under the supervision of the full medical and testing teams, and that these procedures are currently being extended to the entire health care facility.

Ten sub-committees have also been set up to use the skills of the new board members to address the hospital’s medium-and long-term goals. The chairman said the committees have given the right to co-opt, where necessary, people to their sub-committees who have skills that will enhance the work of the specific committee.

But while noting that the board and senior management is under no illusion that the concept and implementation of change will be an easy task, the board chair appealed for patience.

“We are faced with a physical and mental infrastructure that has developed over the past 60 years, and it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that all is well and that we are at the cutting edge of medical practice in comparison to current international best practices,” Moss Solomon said. “I am, however, convinced and committed to the fact of seeing it as our duty to take the necessary steps that will lead to our being able to attain the standards and competencies that will earn the kind of recognition we deserve.

“It will be difficult, but not an impossible task,” he said.