In light of the unfolding drama surrounding the deaths of 11 newborn babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Port of Spain General Hospital, Nurses Association president Idi Stuart is calling on the Prime Minister to act and establish the long talked about Health Sector Accreditation Council which would be responsible for accrediting and monitoring all hospitals in the country.
Stuart, in response to the Prime Minister’s statement to “leave no stone unturned” in the investigations, said as far as the association is concerned there is one clear decision Dr Keith Rowley has to make.
“We would want to reiterate that if the Prime Minister, as the Head of Cabinet does not initiate the Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health to bring on that independent statutory body to ensure all private and public hospitals are accredited as being called for by the association, which has been on the cards for more than two decades, then his statement would ring hollow,” Stuart said.
The Health Sector Accreditation Council was proposed in 2002 as part of Health Sector Reform. The body was suggested as an agency with the role of establishing the operating guidelines for all local hospitals. The proposed body was also responsible for monitoring and ensuring that rules were adhered to.