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10 babies die at St. Theresa’s Hospital over lack of incubator
Statistics indicate that 10 preterm deaths were recorded in the first quarter of 2018, as a result of the absence of an incubator.
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The hospital was established some four and half decades ago (1972) and serves the Nkoransa Municipality, Nkoransa North, as well as Ejura Sekyere Odumasi in the Ashanti Region.
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Accra-based Citi FM reports that the facility has recorded 187 preterm cases with 28 deaths over the last three decades.
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A rather damning statistic indicates that 10 preterm deaths were recorded in the first quarter of 2018, as a result of the absence of an incubator.
The Pediatrician at the St Theresa’s Hospital, Dr. Rosemond Kokuro, lamented the situation, saying the number of preterm deaths are likely to increase if nothing is done.
She explained that the hospital often gets many referrals from other facilities but are helpless to assist the preterm babies due to the unavailability of an incubator.
“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 told Citi FM.
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She added that the hospital has had to adopt 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.
She said preterm babies and other babies who need to be warmed are sometimes catered for using the hospital’s radiant warmer.
According to her, although the staff is committed to saving the lives of preterm babies, inadequate equipment at the facility is increasingly making their work difficult.
The Administrator of the Hospital, Francis Tawiah, also added: “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.”
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