Akyempim (W/R) – A medical officer with the pediatric department of the Tarkwa Municipal hospital in the Western Region, Dr Benjamin Joseph Baidoo says the hospital needs a well-resourced Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
“Our place is a very small room that should not admit more than five to six babies, but currently we have thirty babies in that room. Three mothers cannot breastfeed their babies in that room and our medical staff as well as patients must run shift every day”
He therefore appealed to individuals, corporate organisations, and philanthropists to help construct one.
He said the establishment of a new NICU was necessary because the facility received a lot of referral cases from Enchi, Asankrangwa, Wassa Akropong, Nsuaem, Wassa Agona and other communities who needed such services.
Dr. Baidoo disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), explained further that, “at a point we even admitted eight babies in a day but lost four because the place was not up to the standard of NICU”.
“We also want to have NICU in Tarkwa where we would not refer our babies to Komfo Anokye Teaching hospitality, Greater Accra Regional hospital or Kole Bu Teaching hospitals, as this created additional financial burden on the mothers” he stated.
Dr Baidoo noted that if the Tarkwa Municipal hospital had a NICU, it would help reduce neonatal mortality recorded at the facility and addressed the stress patients and medical staff had to go through.
He therefore called on the general public to contribute generously towards the project to support newborn babies who required special medical attention.
A preterm baby is a child born before the due date and they are usually admitted at the NICU to provide them with the needed health care.
Source: Ghana News Agency