Tema-Ghana, Mar 29, GNA – As part of its efforts to provide advanced care for ill newborns, PATH, a global non-governmental group in partnership with Kybele Incorporated, has donated some medical equipment to the Tema General Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
These included temperature sensors, cardiac monitoring leads, pulse oximeters, air-oxygen blenders, baby radiant warmers, refrigerators for storing breast milk, incubators, and temperature probes.
Other items include stethoscopes, laryngoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, continuous positive airway pressure (C-PAP) machines, bilirunometers, baby cots, resuscitation carts, and ambu-bags, among others.
After presenting the supplies to the hospital, Professor Cyril Engmann, the Senior Director for Programmes and Institutional Official at PATH, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Tema that the presentation was the second stage of the “Making Every Baby Count Initiative.” (MEBCI).
Prof. Engmann noted that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is providing support for the project, which is funded by the Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) of the United Kingdom.
He explained that the second phase was intended to provide the necessary equipment for advanced care for sick newborns in four high-volume regional hospitals, namely Bono Regional Hospital (Sunyani), Eastern Regional Hospital (Koforidua), Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), and Tema General Hospital.
He continued, “The implementation of the MEBCI was born out of the conviction of stakeholders to improve lives of new born babies and reduce infant mortalities attributed to subpar apparatus, subpar advanced care, and subpar supportive supervision of ill neonatal.”
Having tools, training, expertise, and people focusing on the small and sick newborns can greatly reduce the number of fatalities documented, he said.
“Out of every 1,000 babies born alive in Ghana, 25 of them die within the first week, and this is too much,” he said.
Prof. Engmaan stated that the equipment they presented met international standards and was certified for excellence in service delivery.
He noted that in order to guarantee the equipment’s functionality, his company would provide training for the hospital’s engineers to assist in keeping it in working order so that the intended beneficiaries could receive the maximum benefit.
Dr. Edward Antwi, the Ghana Health Service’s Programme Manager for Newborn and Child Health, said the supplies were a huge help in the GHS’s efforts to keep newborns healthy, especially for those who required specialist care.
Right now, he said, “we need to make sure that these pieces of equipment are maintained well so that they last longer and give many years of useful service”.
Receiving the supplies on behalf of Dr. Patrick Kumah, GHS Director-General; Dr. Kofi Issah, Director for Family Health Division of GHS, noted that the health delivery mandate was a shared responsibility and called for the proper use of the equipment as an accountability mechanism to the donors.
Additionally, he encouraged other partners to support the GHS’s efforts by giving more to underfunded medical facilities, assuring donors that the services would provide the best possible care for patients.
