Gulu regional referral hospital admits 40 premature babies to ICU 

Gulu | Each month, at least 40 premature newborn babies are admitted to the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. 

The revelation occurred during the inspection and official commissioning of health facility equipment purchased by AVSI for Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.

With the assistance of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, 12 more hospitals in Uganda received the equipment.

Dr. Baifa Arwinyo is a gynaecologist. She also serves as the coordinator for maternal and newborn systems at Gulu Regional Referral. Baifa confirmed that the care unit admits more than 40 premature babies per month.

There are just four kangaroo mother chairs available in the unit to support the premature babies, which occasionally results in medical professionals failing to save a child from certain death.

Premature children are born as a result of widespread high blood pressure among pregnant women, she said, adding that malarial infection and teenage pregnancy also contribute to premature births. 

Dr. Baifa has urged the government, NGOs, CSOs, and well-wishers to take affirmative action in support of the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital maternity facility.

She stated that collaboration will aid in the fight against widespread premature deliveries.

David Odong is a father to a premature baby. A resident of Ariaga Bardege-Layibi Division, he accused doctors of being rude and arrogant to parents with such babies.

He claimed that sometimes doctors fail to check on patients and leave them in the hospital.

Odong stated that the issue they have is the high expense of purchasing medications to save lives from clinics outside the government facility. “Doctors always send us to buy expensive drugs from outside, claiming that such drugs are not available in stores to treat our patients.”

Dr. Jackey Alobo, technical advisor for maternal and newborn health at AVSI Uganda, stated that they purchased and installed equipment funded by the Italian government in the gynaecology and antenatal wards, NICU, and orthopaedic wards.

Dr. Alobo confirmed that, as part of their support for the hospital, they provide regular training to health workers on how to handle premature babies during the delivery process, stating that the facility does not have enough machines.

Paolo Maria Giambelli, programme coordinator for the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, stated that their initiative to establish health networks in Uganda to support health facilities is in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

“In collaboration with AVSI, we are supporting approximately three East African countries: Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.”

Maria stated that northern Uganda is facing a challenge of inadequate maternal, antenatal, and gynaecology ward facilities, limited space for expansion, and power outages to run the machines.

In terms of preterm births, Acholi sub-region leads, followed by Kampala and Bunyoro sub-region in terms of deaths among children under five. This information comes from a Ministry of Health report.