Kokrokoo Charities Foundation donates incubators to hospitals in northern Ghana

THE Kokrokoo Charities Foundation has donated 10 incubators to some hospitals in the northern part of the country to help reduce neonatal deaths among babies born pre-term.

The incubators, valued at $100,000, were acquired by the Foundation that was founded by ace broadcaster, Mr Kwami Sefa Kayi, and formed part of a campaign he launched in 2015, dubbed: “Project 100 incubators.”

The six beneficiary health facilities were the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) in the Northern Region, the Nadowli District Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospital at Jirapa, both in the Upper West Region, and the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga.

Each of the facilities received two incubators each, while the Bongo District Hospital and the War Memorial Hospital at Navrongo, also in the Upper East Region, were given an incubator each.

Rationale

Speaking at separate ceremonies to hand over the incubators to the beneficiary hospitals, Mr Sefa Kayi explained that the campaign was aimed at raising funds to purchase 100 incubators to equip neo-natal intensive care units (NICUs) in health facilities across the country to help reduce the mortality rate of children born pre-term.

He said so far 30 incubators had been donated to some hospitals in the country.

The initiative, he said, was also a way of giving back to society by bringing smiles and joy to mothers of pre-term babies.

“Five years ago, the Foundation launched Project 100 Incubators to help reduce the rate of infant mortality in our hospitals across the country.

“With about 30 per cent of the target accomplished, the foundation hopes to meet 50 per cent of the target in the next five months as part of efforts to attain Goal Three of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the United Nations,” he added.

Mr Sefa Kayi further explained that the Foundation decided to embark on the project, among other objectives, to help address Ghana’s record of 140,000 pre-term births with more than 8,000 dying before 30 days due to inadequate or unavailability of incubators in hospitals.

Gratitude

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TTH, Dr David Kolbilla, and the Medical Superintendents of the Upper East Regional Hospital and the War Memorial Hospital at Navrongo, Dr Patrick Atobrah and Dr Majeedallahi Alhassan, expressed gratitude to the benefactors for their kind gesture.

They appealed to other philanthropic individuals and organisations for more incubators to help bring deaths of pre-term babies in their respective facilities to the barest minimum.