After weeks of mounting pressure from members of the public following the death of 19 babies due to an outbreak at two of the island’s major public hospitals, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has replaced Dr. Fenton Ferguson as Minister of Health.
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), in a statement on Friday said Ferguson has been assigned to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Horace Dalley – a former Minister of Health, will replace Ferguson.
According to the release, Labour Minister, Derrick Kellier, who for more than a year, held the twin portfolios of Labour & Social Security and Agriculture & Fisheries, will now be left with the Agriculture & Fisheries portfolio.
In announcing the changes, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said she had listened to recent discussions and expressions of concern regarding the situation in the health sector.
Following last month’s disclosure of the outbreak of infections in the neonatal intensive care units at the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Cornwall Regional Hospitals earlier in the year, there were calls for the sacking of Ferguson.
The infections affected 42 babies and led to 19 deaths.
Last year, Ferguson also faced similar pressure over the handling of the chikungunya virus outbreak which crippled the economy and has been blamed for several deaths.
