Madam Agartha Yaa Gyamfuaa presenting the Radiant Warmer to the hospital management
HEALTH WORKERS at Chiraa Government Hospital in the Sunyani West District including doctors, midwives and nurses yesterday couldn’t hide their joy as a citizen of the community domiciled abroad donated a radiant warmer to the facility to help save lives of preterm babies.
According to the workers, the machine worth millions of Ghana cedis, was a necessity for the neonatal unit of the hospital to help provide and maintain the body temperature of new born babies after delivery to help them survive.
The philanthropist, Agartha Yaa Gyamfuaa, domiciled in Italy, presenting the equipment said she was motivated to donate the machine due to her own experience when she delivered a preterm baby back in Italy but her baby survived because of a radiant warmer hence her decision to assist the hospital get one to help save lives in her district.
Handing over the machine to the hospital authorities, Madam Agartha Yaa Gyamfuaa pleaded with the health workers to take good care of it so it meets its life span and achieve its intended purpose of saving lives of preterm babies.
Receiving the machine, doctor Derick Kumi Frimpong thanked the donor for her continues efforts to equip the hospital especially the neonatal intensive unit with the necessary equipment.
“Madam Agartha Yaa Gyamfuaa donated the incubator we have here and today she has added the radiant warmer. I can say on authority that she has single handedly provided about 97 percent of all the machines we needed at the NECO.
We used to combine neonatal and maternity services at the same ward but with all equipment set now we are going to separate the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit from the maternity ward. We are grateful to her for continuous support to the hospital,” he told the health workers and other citizens gathered there during the hand over.
Dr. Kumi explained that the center which until recently was upgraded to a hospital status delivers about 60 babies per month but loses only two.
“We believe and hope that with the presence of the radiant warmer we are going to get zero percent neonatal mortality”, he assured.
The hospital, he said, has two medical doctors, one physician assistant, twenty nurses and twenty-eight midwives.
“Our Outpatient Department (OPD) stands at 1, 200 and the number one disease reported is malaria followed by upper respiratory tract infections.”
He noted that their biggest challenge, however is space so appealed to government, philanthropists and other benevolent organizations come to their aid.
“We have some wards under construction but due to lack of funds it has stalled so we appeal to benevolent organizations and individuals to come and complete them for us to help us give adequate health delivery to the people.”
According to health experts the radiant warmer is a multipurpose machine which is first used to improve temperature of babies whose temperatures are below the normal, babies who were born within the first three days and suffer from physiological jaundice, and lastly it also has a lighting system (photography) which illuminate babies to help identify their veins for further drug administration.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Chiraa