00:00Senior officials from the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, assigned to
00:05conduct a probe into neonatal deaths at the Port of Spain General Hospital met
00:10with senior officials from the Ministry of Health and the Northwest Regional
00:13Health Authority, the NWRHA, the Health Ministry announced in a statement on
00:18Friday. The Health Ministry said the purpose of the meeting was to conduct a
00:22debriefing exercise arising from the in-country mission which took place from
00:27April 22nd to April 26th, 2024. In their statement dated Friday, April 26th, 2024,
00:34the Health Ministry advised the public that the PAHO review will continue which
00:40will lead it to the preparation of a final report being submitted to the
00:43Ministry of Health pending the completion of PAHO's internal processes.
00:48The NWRHA has received the legal letters from Freedom Law Chambers which is
00:53headed by Senior Counsel and former Attorney General Aniram Logan following
00:58the deaths of seven babies within the first two weeks of April of this year
01:02and other babies within the first quarter of this year at the Neonatal
01:06Intensive Care Unit at the Port of Spain General Hospital. In the House of
01:11Representatives on Friday, the issue was the focus of a debate on a motion on the
01:17delivery of health care services to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The motion
01:22had first been raised by Carine East MP Dr. Richard Cicharan on behalf of the
01:27opposition. Opposition leader Kamala Prasad Nassar, the MP for Siparia, said
01:32the deaths of the babies at the Neonatal Unit at Port of Spain General was a
01:37tragedy of unparalleled proportions.
01:40When that first baby died, okay, act of God maybe.
01:45When the second died, still maybe act of God.
01:49When the third baby died, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, what happened? What was done? Was anything done?
01:55Nothing done and now we are counting to 21. Last time I spoke I said well, oh it was so many seven and I'm
02:02praying God no more. Each time in my life I said pray God no more. Now I'm being told it's 21.
02:0821 babies, newborn.
02:11The opposition leader did not provide further details to the lower house regarding that statement.
02:16Earlier in the debate, Planning and Development Minister Penelope Beckles-Robinson, the MP for Arima, said in an apparent
02:23reference to the opposition that the circumstances at the Neonatal Unit, as
02:27tragic as they are, are being viewed as fertile ground for politicking in the national space.
02:34Madam Speaker, some persons have gone so far as to reach conclusions, even as an
02:40official investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragedy
02:45is being conducted by a highly competent technical team from the
02:50Pan American Health Organizations, invited by Trinidad and Tobago, by the
02:56Ministry of Health, with the goal of examining the circumstances, identifying
03:02the facts, and giving an expert opinion as to the cause or causes of this
03:08tragedy. The Health Ministry said that in the interim, both it and the NWRHA will
03:13continue to work with PAHO to facilitate the completion of the
03:18independent review. Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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