Mexico's social security institute, the IMSS, has ordered an independent clinical audit and removed senior officials at the Hospital de Gineco Obstetricia of the Centro Médico Nacional de Occidente in Jalisco, after six newborns died, according to El Informador. The institute announced the audit and what it described as sector-wide actions in connection with cases in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, or UCIN.
The IMSS confirmed the measures on its own website, and Reforma also reported that officials had been separated from their posts over the deaths of the newborns. The Jalisco newborn unit where the bacterial outbreak occurred remains under epidemiological surveillance, La Jornada reported.
The deaths are part of a wider set of cases drawing scrutiny in two states. EL PAÍS reported on the deaths of eight babies in Jalisco and Durango, and cited accounts pointing to poor practices and inadequate hygiene. That reporting indicates the concern extends beyond a single facility, though the audit ordered by the IMSS concerns the UCIN at the Guadalajara hospital.
The IMSS has not, in the material available, named the officials removed or given a cause of death for the six newborns. The independent audit is intended to examine the clinical circumstances surrounding the cases.
What to watch next: the findings of the independent audit and any further statements from the IMSS on the outbreak and staffing decisions.
