Tunis: Tunisia’s health minister Abdel-Raouf El-Sherif resigned on Saturday following multiple investigations launched into the mysterious deaths of 11 newborn babies within 24 hours at a state maternity hospital in the capital city, news agency TAP reported.
Country’s Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has reportedly accepted El-Sherif’s resignation after the health ministry said that 11 newborns were reported dead on Thursday and Friday at Rabta hospital in Tunis.
The health ministry and the state prosecutors have launched probes into the cause of the babies’ death which was likely due to a blood infection, it said. Chahed has ordered an investigation into the matter and has vowed to hold those responsible accountable.
Initial findings have revealed that the deaths were “likely caused by septic shock resulting from blood infections”, the ministry informed.
Since the overthrow of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 which has brought a democratic transition but at the same time have thrown the country into an economic crisis, Tunisians have complained about a decline of state services.
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