Kokrokoo Charities Donates Two Incubators to Tema General Hospital

The Kokrokoo Charities Foundation has presented two infant incubators valued at 20, 000 dollars to the Paediatric Unit of the Tema General Hospital, to help cater for premature and neonatal babies at the hospital.

The two incubators add up to a total of 17 incubators so far that had been donated and installed by the Foundation under its Project 100 incubators programme.

The Project 100 incubators programme, is being undertaking by Kwami Sefa Kayi, Founder of Kokrokoo Charities Foundation and host of the Kokrokoo Morning Show on Peace FM, an Accra-based radio station, to help promote the health of newly born babies in the country.

A UNICEF report indicates that Ghana records about 140,000 preterm births annually, out of which 8,000 of them die before 30 days.

Project 100, was therefore, designed to help champion the targeted strategy for accelerating a reduction of newborn deaths in Ghana.

Mr Sefa Kayi, who handed over the incubators to Dr Audrey Frimpong-Barfi, Head of the Paediatric Department of the Tema General Hospital in Tema on Monday, said he was hopeful that the incubators would help improve the care for neonatals at the hospital.

He said in addition to the incubators, the Foundation would help fix sliding windows for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and provide two air conditioners that Dr Frimpong-Barfi requested.

Dr Frimpong-Barfi commended the Foundation for coming in to assist the hospital with the best brand of incubators that would add up to the five functioning ones, which were woefully inadequate for the number of babies that were brought for care at the NICU.

She said the Department received about 50 babies every month and that in August this year, over 51 pre-term babies were admitted in the hospital from other hospitals all over Tema, which add lots of stress on facilities at the NICU.

She appealed that an ongoing mother and baby Unit project on the hospital premises that had been stalled, should be completed to help ease the congestion at the Department.

Mr Dennis Adutwum, Programmes Director of Kokrokoo Foundation said three other incubators had been purchased by the Foundation and those would be presented to the Sunyani Government Hospital in the Brong Ahafo Region and the Atibie Hospital in the Eastern Region in two weeks’ time, making it 20 incubators to be presented under the project since its inception.

He said the foundation raises funds through individual support and that of corporate organisations, which it uses to purchase the incubators.

He announced that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), had supported the Foundation with a donation 50, 000 dollars to help it fund the Project 100 incubator programme.

Hospitals that had benefitted from the Project 100 Incubators programme are the Police Hospital and the La General Hospital in Accra, the Prestea Government Hospital in the Western Region, the Nsawam Government Hospital in the Eastern Region, the Cape Coast Regional Hospital, Tamale Regional Hospital, among others.

The distribution of the incubators was based on a survey carried out by the Ministry of Health, assessing the needs of the various hospitals in the country.

GNA