By Nelson Ayivor
Aflao (V/R), June. 8, GNA – Dr Alphonse Makafui Dzakpasu, Medical Superintendent of the Ketu South Municipal Hospital at Aflao, has says the hospital would soon have an expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
He said through the intervention of Mr Divine Kporha, the Vice President of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Foundation (MHWF), the Hospital received a Direct Aid Programme (DAP) funding from the Australian High Commission in Ghana towards the construction of a fully furnished NICU.
It would support pre-term babies and neonates, which would further contribute to the positive health outcomes of the communities within the hospital’s catchment area.
Dr Dzakpasu this disclosed in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Aflao.
In 2016, the Ketu South Municipal Hospital improvised a section of the maternity ward providing a 24-hour service to pre-term and new-born.
Since its inception, it is the only neonatal intensive care unit within the municipality, serving all public and private hospitals, health centers, CHPS compounds and health facilities from neighboring Togo.
Data available at the hospital shows that there has been an increase in the number of neonates and pre-term babies either delivered at the hospital or referred from other health facilities – the hospital must succumb to the high demand and pressure from the over two thousand cases attended annually without a properly furnished NICU, sometimes resulting in mortality.
Mr Divine Kporha told the GNA that after a thorough assessment of the needs of the Ketu South Municipal Hospital, MHWF settled on constructing and equipping the NICU to support more pre-term babies being delivered but struggle to survive due to the unavailability of adequate beds and equipment.
He said the Foundation was committed to using its human and financial capital to support the local community towards more developmental projects in the future.
The NICU project, which is already halfway through, when completed, would house low and high dependency wards, a nurse station, a breast milk expression room, a kangaroo mother care unit, mothers’ wellness center, nurse and doctor rest room, a medical store, and a sanitary unit.
Dr Dzakpasu expressed delight at the ongoing pace of the project and extended gratitude to the Foundation and the Australian government for the intervention, which he said could not have come at a better time.
He pledged the Hospital management’s support in ensuring the project was completed in time.
GNA