Jamaica’s health minister denounces PNP’s protest in response to deaths of babies

Dr. Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Health and Wellness minister has criticized the recent protests by the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for his resignation after the deaths of 13 babies during a bacterial epidemic at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital.

Tufton was speaking on Sunday at a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council Four meeting at Bethel Primary and Infant School in Hanover.

He advised supporters not to focus on the “distractions” and the PNP’s efforts to cover up its past shortcomings.

“I can only wonder whether or not this organization is going through a sort of attempt of an exorcism or purge of their own ghosts. I respect your opinions, and those opinions are important in our democracy but don't use me to experience your own purging based on your own regrets,” Tufton said.

Members and supporters of the PNP have held many protests across the island, notably outside the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James, and the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester, demanding Tufton's dismissal.

These protests are in response to the deaths of 13 babies at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital over four months.

Dr. Christopher Tufton recently confirmed that seven babies died in July from Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, a bacterial outbreak at the neonatal unit of the Victoria Jubilee maternity hospital in Kingston.

Protesters claim Tufton was aware of the fatalities since July and failed to fully inform the government and the country.

Klebsiella pneumoniae infections are common in Jamaican hospitals. It is a bacterium that causes a high number of hospital-acquired illnesses. These include pneumonia and soft tissue infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals such as newborn children or neonates.

There was a spike in deaths in 2015 and 2016.