3 Kwahu hospitals supported with infant incubators

Three hospitals in the Kwahu Traditional Area in the Eastern Region have received four infant incubators to enhance care for preterm babies delivered at or referred to the facilities.

The presentation, which also included defibrillators, was made possible through the Paramount Chief of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng III, and benefitted the Presbyterian Hospital,

DonkorKrom; Holy Family Hospital, Nkawkaw; and the Kwahu Government Hospital, Atibie.

While standard practice requires every district hospital to have at least six to 10 incubators, the three beneficiary hospitals together do not have even six, highlighting the urgent need for this support.

For instance, the Holy Family Hospital, located in the Kwahu West District, serves a population of about 153,000 people, with 24 per cent being women of reproductive age.

Of these women, about four per cent are expected to conceive each year, which translates into roughly 6,000 newborns, with an estimated five per cent likely to be preterm.

This situation calls for at least six incubators, yet the hospital currently has only two and lacks any working defibrillators, making the donation a timely and much-needed intervention.

Prioritising healthcare

Speaking at an event to present the equipment to the hospitals at the Kwahu Government Hospital in Atibie, the Omanhene of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng III, expressed his gratitude and pledged to intensify efforts to improve healthcare delivery within the traditional area.

He said the presentation was made to significantly enhance the three hospitals' capacity to provide specialised and life-saving care for premature infants.

He said the equipment was designed to strengthen their neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), ensuring that tiny, vulnerable babies born at the facilities or referred from other locations received the critical support they needed to survive and thrive.

He urged the healthcare professionals to use the new equipment to their fullest potential and maintain them for the benefit of Kwahu and its environs.

Gratitude

The Municipal Director of Health for Kwahu West, Celestina Asante, expressed deep gratitude for the donation of the incubators and explained that they were desperately needed due to a population increase.

The infant incubators and defibrillators presented to the hospitals.

“Ideally, the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital, which is a typical district hospital, should have about five to 10 incubators, but now that we have three, it will at least help to reduce the pressure.

“Sometimes, we transfer pre-term babies to the Koforidua Regional Hospital or other hospitals in Accra, and because of our poor roads, most of them do not make it through the journey,”

Mrs Asante, who is the acting Health Director for Kwahu South, added.
She called on the government and philanthropic organisations, as well as the corporate world, to come to the aid of health facilities in the Kwahu West, East and Afram Plains districts.

Challenges

The General Manager of the Presbyterian Health Services at Kwahu, Kweku Fianko Gyan, explained that his facility, which serves the vast Afram Plains Island covering a third of the Eastern Region, faced a lot of challenges.

He said that despite being the only hospital for the Afram Plains North and South districts, it lacked adequate facilities and equipment to offer efficient health care.

Mr Gyan expressed gratitude for the recent donation of incubators and defibrillators, describing it as a timely intervention.

He appealed to the government and public for further support, including beds, an anaesthesia machine and lab equipment, to alleviate the pressure on the understaffed facility.