UNICEF donates power plant to Tamale West Hospital

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated a 100KVA emergency power plant to the Tamale West Hospital to ensure the effective and uninterrupted power supply to the newborn care unit, maternity ward, labour room and theatre of the hospital.

Frequent power outages have adversely affected the operations of the hospital over the years.

In November 2021, UNICEF built a 54-bed newborn care unit for the hospital to provide quality healthcare services to newborn babies and mothers, and to enhance general healthcare.

The Country Representative of UNICEF, Anne-Claire Dufay, said the gesture formed part of the organisation’s commitment to promote quality healthcare for mothers and babies.

She said the plant was not part of the newborn care unit project but was in response to a plea by the management of the hospital to ensure the full and effective operations of the unit.

The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Patrick Bampoe, said, “the unit is a very critical area and we need to have a standby plant there to be able to save lives”.

He, therefore, commended the fund for the gesture and pledged to put it to good use.

Background

The fully furnished newborn care unit consists of a kangaroo mother care unit, pharmacy, therapy, consulting and mother’s room.

It was constructed by UNICEF Ghana, with funding support from the Italian National Committee (Italian NatCom), with the objective to save the lives of newborn babies and prevent complications in mothers during labour.