Bodoe: PAHO's report an indictment on NWRHA

DR LACKRAM Bodoe, Fyzabad MP and opposition shadow health minister, says Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh appears more concerned about his ministry’s image than running it properly.

Bodoe, former chairman of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA), gave his views on the report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) into the deaths of seven babies at the Port of Spain General Hospital’s (PoSGH) neonatal intensive care unit between April 2 and 9.

“Everything in this report points to a breakdown in what we call surveillance,” he said at an opposition media conference on June 30.

“In other words, there was a breakdown in trying to determine if there was any bacteria, any bugs, any viruses, any micro-organisms that would have been there, waiting to cause infection to these vulnerable infants, and some of the findings speak to that.”

A three-member team organised by PAHO on behalf of the government interviewed healthcare workers and investigated conditions at the PoSGH between January and April before publishing a report.

Deyalsingh received the report from PAHO on June 21, and presented it in the Parliament on June 28.

It found that epidemiological surveillance of infection was at 80 per cent; prevention and control strategies at 71 per cent; and neonatal intensive care at 29 per cent.

“The methodology appears sound and the investigation was conducted by internationally accepted standards,” Bodoe said. “Therefore, the findings appear valid in the opinion of similar experts with whom I have discussed this report.

He said the report “confirms that sepsis appears to be the cause of increased neo-natal mortality…and it is well known from our local figures that sepsis appears to be a common cause of deaths in pre-term and low-birth-weight babies, and while the minister may want to make it out that because these babies were pre-term and of low birth weight that they would have died anyhow, the question really is that the authorities are bound and there is more reason to provide the best care for these very vulnerable infants.”

He referred to page six of the report which highlighted that implementing infection prevention and control practices and programmes “is one of the most effective interventions to decrease neo-natal (deaths) and…HAI (hospital acquired infections) related to invasive devices.”

He challenged Deyalsingh’s handling of the report and the general health sector.

“The findings of this report unmask the poor state of healthcare under Minister Deyalsingh despite his frequent boastful self-praise about how well he’s running the health sector,” he said.

Alluding to the minister’s criticism of the media for “cherrypicking” from the report, Bodoe asked rhetorically: “Instead of accepting the message in this PAHO report, are they trying to shoot the messenger to hide their incompetence?”

The report, he said, speaks to deficiencies in governance.

“It speaks to possibly sub-standard clinical practice,” as well as shortcomings in sanitisation measures and inadequate staffing, he said.

He alleged that while the deaths were happening at the neo-natal unit, a new sanitisation company was engaged at the PoSGH with little experience in sanitisation measures.

He said when this incident occurred, the company was removed and promptly replaced by the more experienced company that had done the work before.

“So I leave that out there. I think that is something that needs to be taken up.”

He asked if the minister wanted the public to doubt PAHO.

“The Minister of Health in his statement in Parliament said he was going to seek further clarification from PAHO.

“I have to ask this morning, what clarification is he seeking? The findings are as clear as daylight. PAHO is an internationally accredited body that provides technical co-operation to all of its 35 member countries. Indeed, this very government has engaged PAHO on numerous other occasions when technical and expertise were required."

He reiterated that Deyalsingh himself approached PAHO for the investigation.

“So is the minister now unhappy with this independent report? I trust that he’s in no way trying to cast aspersions on this well-recognised agency’s committee and to create any doubts about the findings of the report.”

He said as former SWRHA head, he is familiar with sub-committees with particular functions within the health sector.

"There is a sub-committee that is especially and particularly responsible for infection prevention and control. So is it that the board did not have a sub-committee in place to deal with this potentially dangerous issue? And if it was, was the sub-committee functioning at all?"