Twenty-eight preterm babies have so far died at the St Theresa’s Hospital at Nkoransa in the Nkoransa Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region, due to the absence of an incubator.
The St. Theresa’s Hospital at Nkoransa established in 1972, serves the Nkoransa Municipality, Nkoransa North and Ejura Sekyere Odumasi in the Ashanti Region.
[ads1]Over the last three years, the facility has recorded 187 preterm cases with 28 deaths.
Out of the 28 preterm babies that have died at the facility, 10 of them died in the first quarter of 2018.
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3, which seeks to end the preventable deaths of newborn and children under five years by 2030, is becoming a mirage as the facility has no incubator to cater for the increasing number of preterm babies resulting in the death of many.
Dr. Rosemond Kokuro, the Pediatrician at the facility in an interview with Citi News said the numbers of preterm babies are increasing at the facility.
“Because we have a Neonatal Unit at this facility we are getting more referrals from our outstations, but we do not have a single incubator in this facility to cater for these preterm babies. We need urgent help; I am calling on government and NGOs to help us with an incubator ” Dr. Kokuro said.
Dr. Kokuro said they have adopted the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) method which involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact to create the warmth the babies need.
Dr. Kokuro also noted that the facility has to improvise their radiant warmer to cater for the preterm babies and other babies who need to be warm.
He noted that the NICU is also not spacious to accommodate the increasing number, and mothers who patronize the facility have to sleep on benches as there is no place for them.
She indicated that the staff is committed to saving the lives of preterm babies but the equipment at the facility is inadequate.
The Administrator of the Hospital, Francis Tawiah, called for support for the Neonatal Unit.
“We serve four districts and the number of preterm babies to the facility has shot up. We need an incubator urgently to save the lives of these preterm babies,” Mr. Tawiah noted.
