‘Save the babies — shut down Mt Hope maternity ward’

“How many more must die?” This is the question the mothers, whose babies died as a result of an alleged outbreak of enterobacter bacteria at the Mount Hope Maternity’s Neonatal Ward in September, are asking. They are calling on the relevant authorities to shut down the ward in order to save babies who could be warded at the hospital in the future.

One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said no amount of compensation can replace her baby’s life. “I waited 18 years to have this baby and he only lived for four days and I don’t know if I could have another one,” the angry mother said. She said while authorities at the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) told her that the baby died due to prematurity, she believes it was because of the suspected enterobacter bacteria outbreak. She questions reports that several babies died around the same time, with several different complications. Other parents said, even so, this is a sign of negligence for so many babies to die within a short period of each other. They are demanding an investigation into the matter and they are clamouring for answers. They said if the Minister of Health, John Rahael is sincere in his apology, he will not be part of any cover-up and would ensure that justice prevails for the affected families.

The mother said her relatives were so happy for the couple when they heard she was pregnant. So happy were they, they threw the largest baby-shower the family ever had in its history. She was in the process of packing away barrels of baby clothes sent to her from the US, when Sunday Newsday spoke to her. “All the cover-up and the talk could never be worth the death of a child,” she said, tears in her voice. “They did not even offer all of us grief counselling. No one should have to be suffering this kind of pain. How many more babies must die before they begin to take this problem seriously?” she asked. These were similar sentiments of two other couples Sunday Newsday interviewed. 

Nazeema Narine was also one of the mothers who lost her baby in the suspected September enterobacter bacteria outbreak. She was so distraught, her husband Avenish did the talking on her behalf. Narine said even though baby Celine developed complications due to jaundice, he too is certain the death was caused by the enterobacter bacteria. “All of the parents whose babies died at around the same time said their babies had the same symptoms as ours. All of them had red and blue-black marks all over their bodies and the doctors told us that was because of  the bacteria infection,” he said. Narine is one of the parents who is considering legal action against NWRHA. “Right now, we cannot deal with this because we were preparing for this child. The entire family was looking forward to the birth of this child, so for us, this is a huge loss. She was so pretty,” Narine lamented. He said his wife is overcome with grief, so much so that she gets nightmares and they are both restless at night. They said they can’t even look at baby items without wanting to break down in tears.

Narine said everyone is still in shock, especially since they expected more from an institution like Mt Hope, which has been described as the one of the more modernised hospitals in the country. He feels someone should be made accountable for the deaths of the babies. “For this to happen a second time, that is high-class carelessness. There is nothing that any Minister could say or do that could bring back my child,” he said. The most outspoken of the mothers, 18-year-old Anisa Ramdial, said the grief of losing a baby cannot be compared with anything else. In the case of the death of Ramdial’s baby, the NWRHA claimed that the death was not due to the enterobacter bacteria infection. “They are still hiding the truth, even the doctors are suspicious about what is happening to the babies and most of the babies had the same symptoms, so I don’t know what they are trying to hide,” she said. Ramdial wants to know if there a suspected bacteria, why the authorities did not treat it with more seriousness. “They did not even sanitise the ICU at the time. It looked so normal, like nothing was wrong,” she said. She said right now she is trying to balance her anger and her grief and is trying to move on.

Ramdial is so convinced about the enterobacter bacteria, she said government should shut down the entire hospital. In a former press release from the NWRHA, Manager of Corporate Communications, Charmaine Codrington, said there was a thorough investigation of Ramdial’s baby (whom they eventually named Genisa). Codrington said neonates such as baby Genisa who are prematurely born present severe challenges, including severe prematurity of organs and systems, foetal abnormality of major organs and severe jaundice and its complications. “We wish to reiterate that quality care was administered to the baby and all other babies at the neonatal ward,” she said. The cause of death, according to the NWRHA, was disseminated intravascular coagulopothy. Dr Esau Joseph, Medical Chief of Staff, at the time had said that there was no enterobacter outbreak at the neonatal’s Intensive Care Unit. Earlier this week, the Century 21 Janitorial Services Company Ltd, which conducted sanitisation after an outbreak of the bacteria at the neonatal unit in September, was called in to do another thorough cleaning. Dr Joseph, however, later admitted that a second enterobacter outbreak had occurred. So what is truth? That is the question affected parents want to know.