Korle Bu recorded 1,036 child deaths last year

STATISTICS from the Health Information Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) indicate that 1,036 child deaths were recorded at the hospital  last year.
Sources from the hospital attributed causes to the top ten deaths to premature birth, birth asphyxia, respiratory distress, grunting respiration, meconium aspiration, failure to thrive (FTT), retroviral infection (HIV), neonatal sepsis, anaemia and malaria
Out of the number, premature birth mortality was the highest, accounting for 244 death of babies from January to November, 2011 while birth asphyxia came second highest with a total number of 101 deaths recorded as of November last year.
According to health experts, premature or pre-term birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age (time elapsed since conception), as well as the birth of a baby before the developing organs are matured enough to allow normal postnatal survival.
Online information on child welfare indicate that premature birth can occur when a pregnant woman has malaria, hypertension, early bleeding, low blood count, high blood pressure and incompetent cervix.
The Principal Nursing Officer (PNO) at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the KBTH, Mrs Abigail Aryee, told the Daily Graphic that premature babies were sometimes referred from other hospitals and clinics to the KBTH, and some of the babies were mostly in bad states before getting there.
According to her, some private hospitals that do not have incubators or ventilators to cater for the babies transferred the babies to KBTH for proper health care, and  some of the babies died before getting to the hospital.
She also stated that most of the babies died due to respiratory distress, and delay in bringing the babies to the hospital on time and explained that this is because the lungs of the premature babies were not matured enough and therefore needed to be aided by giving them oxygen to keep them alive.
Mrs Aryee said the NICU had only one working ventilator, while the oxygen supply system was not functioning properly, but they had improvised on the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines, to provide oxygen for the premature babies admitted to the hospital.
Another challenge confronting the unit is the small number of nurses at the NICU wards who catered for the babies at a particular time.
“Ideally it should be two nurses to a baby, but we have only seven nurses attending to over 40 babies on shift basis, and this makes the work hard for us”, she added.
A ward which was supposed to house 40 babies had exceeded the number of intake due to the increase in the number of premature births at the hospital.
Mrs Aryee advised pregnant women to regularly attend ante-natal clinics or hospital for their health conditions to be monitored to avoid complications in pregnancy.
She also advised that women who are pregnant should avoid long distance travelling and should heed to medical advice given to them when they attend the hospital.
She stated that the government had promised to provide the needed equipment and gadgets for proper facilitation of work in the hospital, and that they hope to receive them soon.