Insufficient incubators lead to death of two preterm babies weekly at Gomoa-Fetteh - Report

Two preterm babies are reported to die every week at the Village of Hope Hospital at Gomoa-Fetteh, in the Central Region, due to insufficient incubators.

The babies, who are born preterm, are said to die because they do not get the needed support with the help of the incubators, which a report by Citi TV, said are in limited supply.

In place of that, mothers have been encouraged to adopt the Kangaroo mother care style so that the temperatures of newborn babies can be controlled.

“The thing is the temperature control of the baby, right? So, in the initial hours or days, if you're able to get their temperatures controlled, it goes a long way in their survival. So, we do the kangaroo mother care. The kangaroo mother care is essential because the baby cannot be in an incubator for the rest of their time. So, at the end of the day, the mother has to support where we do the skin-to-skin contact. It goes a long way to help the babies. As I said, it's skin-to-skin contact between the baby and the mother.

"Normally, the baby is positioned at the chest in between the breast, so that the baby can also acquire or gain the same temperature as compared to that of the man. That doesn't tip them into hypothermia, which tends to kill them faster. As compared to a term baby,” Dr. Angong Gyabuor Kumi, the Medical Superintendent at the Village of Hope Hospital advised.

Despite this alternative, some mothers fear losing their children in the process, some of whom have called on the government to support the medical needs of the people of Gomoa-Fetteh.

“Right at the ward, you see a mother who has given birth and they come to the ward with their babies and they sleep with them. But with you, it’s like, right from birth, your child is taken from you in an incubator. You sleep, you are wondering, what is going on there? You get up in the morning, you rush to go to the place, you hear babies crying and it’s like has it been like this throughout the night without me cuddling her and telling her she is going to be okay or feeding her? So, you get there, you have your child for just a few minutes then you have to leave for the child to be put back into the incubator. And then you have to go and sleep again. I mean, staying the whole day without the child by your side, it's not easy, and sometimes when you wake up, you have to go.

“You get there, just at the gate, you hear, this person has lost the baby. So, it's like anytime you have to go to the NICU, you're already afraid. So, there is more to be done. There is more. We are really pleading that they come to our aid and do more to help us so that things will come down. For parents, it's very horrifying,” a nursing mother who interacted with Citi TV said.

Two babies die at Village of Hope Hospital in Gomoa - Fetteh due to insufficient incubators. #CitiNewsroom pic.twitter.com/X8bB3Dzixg

— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) November 20, 2023