The Permanent Secretary for Health Philip Davis says the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at CWM Hospital continues to be safe and is the best place for seriously ill babies to receive the care they need.
When asked by Fijivillage on the update of the investigations carried out by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation on the baby deaths at unit at CWM Hospital, Davis says the team of three experts deployed by WHO are continuing their investigation of the recent bacterial outbreak at the hospital.
He says they will provide a report and recommendations on the completion of their work.
The Ministry of Health and the WHO are still investigating whether the six babies that have died since last month all died from the same bacterium.
The Ministry earlier stated that the six babies that died from pre-existing, life threatening conditions, including perinatal asphyxia, pneumonia and severe prematurity had contracted the acinetobacter baumanii bacterium.
The Ministry of Health says a common source of the bacteria has not been found and this is not unusual as sources are only identified in 50% of all outbreaks reported globally.
They say the presence of the multidrug resistant bacteria was detected by CWM laboratory services in samples obtained from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit patients.
