Six districts in the Upper East Region are reliant on only two operational baby incubators at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Zebilla Hospital for the care of premature infants.
These districts include Bawku West, Binduri, Garu, Pusiga, Tempane, and the Bawku Municipality, according to Ghana News Agency.
Furthermore, the hospital relies on just three functioning radiate warmers out of the five available.
The NICU was established by the hospital’s management in collaboration with UNICEF, a non-governmental organization, in May 2021. Initially, it began operations with just one baby incubator but later received two additional incubators from generous individuals to meet the high demand for admissions in the unit.
On average, the NICU admits approximately three infants daily from the six districts mentioned. Hospital records indicate that in the first half of 2023, over 500 babies were admitted.
Mr. Christopher Saganma Nambileeb, the Unit in-charge, conveyed this information to the Ghana News Agency, highlighting that they receive infants from all six districts. He earnestly appealed to the government, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and individuals for additional incubators to better serve their growing number of patients.
“The admissions are so much, if we had space and enough incubators, we would manage them. You can imagine, health facilities in Bawku Municipality call with preterm cases, Garu and the rest of them call, and sometimes they do not call, but come.
“When we try to refer them to the Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, it becomes an issue, and as professionals, who are advocates for our clients, we would not want them to be stranded, we have to find places for them, and they may not get the best of care,” he noted.
He said with the two functioning baby incubators, staff of the Unit had over the years prioritized the care of preterm babies, “So when we have about five babies in need of incubators, we prioritize.
“We look at the gestational ages of the babies, the danger signs, and if the babies have no danger signs, we immediately lay such babies under radiate warmers. If they are stable under the warmers, we move them onto the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) management,” he said.
KMC, or Kangaroo Mother Care, is the practice of placing a baby in direct skin-to-skin contact with the mother, resembling a kangaroo’s pouch position.
A clinic dedicated to KMC was established through the collaborative efforts of Momentum Country Ghana Limited (MCGL), UNICEF, and various Non-Governmental Organizations. This clinic is operated by NICU staff and serves as a supplement to the two operational incubators available.
“Because we do not have enough incubators, the KMC clinic comes to supplement the incubators. So, we manage the preterm babies together with the mothers, we teach them how to do the KMC, what to do and what not to do with the preterm babies.
“With that, the mothers become used to it, and they can assist in caring for the babies with the limited resources we have. We currently have five babies, and all of them cannot be in an incubator at the same time.
Mr Nambileeb noted that despite the limited resources in the Unit, they had achieved a lot of successes since the Unit was established.
“We managed a 25 weeks’ gestation baby who survived and is doing well now, the baby is almost two years now. When we were managing, some Doctors came from Accra and were surprised. They called it an abortion, but we managed, and the baby survived,” he recalled.
The individual in charge of the unit expressed their heartfelt appreciation to MCGL, UNICEF, the Unit’s staff, and the hospital’s management for their unwavering support.
They also underscored the importance of additional baby incubators and expanded space within the unit to enhance its operational efficiency.