Hospital accused of under-reporting baby deaths

Grieving parents of one of the two newborn babies who recently died at Mount Hope Maternity Hospital claim the institution is under-reporting the number of babies dying there.

Avinash Narine, whose wife Nazima Narine recently lost her newborn, is disputing the statement of hospital Chief of Staff, Dr Esau Joseph, who said that just 13 babies had died there in the month of October. Avinash claimed five or six babies had died at Mount Hope on just one day last week. He said a hospital doctor had confided to him that the Post Natal Ward was infected and should be cleaned up. The bereaved couple are demanding to know why so many babies are dying at Mount Hope. They are rejecting assurances that there has not been any outbreak of enterobacter. Nazima lamented that she had trusted the hospital authorities to clean up the wards after previous deaths, in vain. Adineesa Ramdial, who lost her newborn to septisemia, is not accepting the apology of Minister of Health, John Rahael, saying she won’t rest until she finds out what the problem is at Mount Hope.