Bonaboto-UK branch donates incubators to Upper East regional hospital

The United Kingdom branch of the Bolgatanga, Nangode, Bongo and Tongo (BONABOTO) Union has donated three new incubators valued at US$20,000 to the Upper East Regional Hospital at Bolgatanga.

The gesture was to among other things help curb new-born deaths at the New-Born Care Unit of the Regional Hospital.

Ceremony

Presenting the equipment at a short ceremony on Thursday, August 6, 2020, the former Secretary of the BONABOTO-UK branch, Mr David Atugiya observed that a recent research conducted by BONABOTO-UK showed that new-born deaths in Ghana account for 46 percent of all deaths among children under five years of age.

“Premature birth is a leading cause of new-born deaths with one in seven babies born before 37 weeks of gestation” he pointed out.

Mr Atugiya further explained that the situation “is twice in regions such as Upper East and West as well as Northern Regions and this is due to poverty, distance from health facility and inadequate awareness of pregnancy challenges".

He observed that it is for those reasons that the BONABOTO-UK decided to support the Regional Hospital with the incubators to help save many lives.

Background

Giving a background to how it all started, Mr Atugiya noted that in 2017 members and executives of the BONABOTO-UK embarked on a fundraising exercise in aid of the Regional Hospital and the event came off successfully on Saturday July 14, 2018.

He said in order to ensure that the equipment the Union intended to procure was fit and suitable for the environment in the North, the Union contacted Dr Gillian Boggee of the New-Born Care Unit to discuss the needs of the Unit which she did. Based on the list of items the Unit needed, he said the Union decided to concentrate on the incubators and with further consultations, the Union settled on the “Dragger Airshield C2000”incubators which were suitable for the North.

Appreciation

The acting Medical Director of the Regional Hospital, Dr Samuel Aborah expressed gratitude to BONABOTO-UK for the support.

He observed that the relationship between the Hospital and the Union had been cordial and fruitful and recalled that last year they supported the Hospital to carry out 79 surgeries on its clients.

New-Born Unit

According to him, the New-Born Care Unit started operation in 2014 and serves the Upper East and North East Regions.

“It is significant to mention that admissions rose from 834 in 2014 to 1,166 in 2019 while death rates also decreased from 9.23 percent in 2014 to 7.81percent in the first half of 2020” he pointed out.

SDGs

The Deputy Director, Clinical Care of the Hospital, Dr Abdul-Razak Dokurugu noted that improving health care among new-born babies and preventing deaths by 2030 is one of the ways of achieving the goal three target of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Over the years we have tried as much as possible to improve antenatal services, identify pregnant women with risk conditions and to ensure that new-born babies are catered for to grow into adulthood," Dr Dokurugu observed.