Little Tajudeen (his surname) is a lovely and lively boy doing well just like any normal child. He is a source of immense joy to his parents.
His birth, eight years ago, was a moment of both joy and sadness. He, and his twin brother, who passed away shortly after being born, were delivered as preterm babies (27 weeks) at the Tamale Central Hospital.
He weighed 0.7 kilogrammes (kg) instead of the normal weight of between 1kg to 2kgs that most preterm babies weigh.
His health situation was so serious that authorities at the Tamale Central Hospital transferred him to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), which was thought to have specialists and the necessary facilities to save him.
As an extreme preterm baby, Little Tajudeen had breathing problems, his lungs were not well-developed, he could not see, he could not coordinate sucking amongst others, and had to be put in an incubator to guarantee him the right temperature. At the time he was brought to the TTH, it was thought that he was 'almost gone.'
MTN Ghana Foundation's interventions
Madam Victoria Awalenkak Agwiah, a Neonatal Nurse Specialist in-charge of preterm babies at Kangaroo Care Department of TTH, who was then a member of a team of general nurses, who attended to Little Tajudeen at the TTH's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in 2015, narrated to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) how they were able to save the boy's life.
Madam Agwiah said: 'The boy's situation was serious. However, we were able to nurse him, which was rare. It was all because of the equipment that we used at the new NICU and the conducive working environment. The boy is now eight years old and doing well, just like any normal child. The new place (NICU) was purposely designed for NICU services. If it were our old NICU, we would have lost that boy.'
She was full of praise for MTN Ghana Foundation for constructing the new NICU for the TTH and said little Tajudeen was brought in just two months after authorities of MTN Ghana and TTH formally opened the new NICU.
The MTN Ghana Foundation, in a bid to ensure improved health care for critically ill neonates, constructed the NICU for the TTH in 2015, and handed it over to the authorities of the TTH in May 2015.
The new facility (NICU) had two incubator rooms, one open crib, a kangaroo mother care room and breast milk expression room. It also has a conference room furnished with 22 chairs, a projector and a 42-inch LCD television, a changing room for staff, nurses' rest room, doctors' rest room, nurse manager's office, space for dispensary and a doctor's office. Besides, there is a waiting area for new patients and a kitchen for breast milk storage.
Madam Agwiah said even though the new NICU had saved and continued to save lives of thousands of babies, the case of Little Tajudeen was outstanding.
She said 'Since the construction of the new NICU, the number of cases we receive has increased. We are receiving even more critically ill neonates; some being born within 24 months, but we are not losing them. We are saving them. It is because of our sophisticated equipment and conducive environment.'
Mr Kasim Tajudeen, a resident of Tamale and Father of Little Tajudeen, told the GNA that 'I feel so good today. The NICU built by MTN Ghana Foundation was a life saver. But for that NICU, my boy would not have been alive today.'
The state of the TTH's old NICU prior to MTN's intervention
The TTH is a major referral facility serving the entire northern sector of the country. In view of this, it receives a lot of patients. Around 2010 when the TTH began rendering neonatal intensive care services, its NICU was not up to the standard to offer the best of care to critically ill neonates. The NICU was being run from a small cubicle at the maternity block of the TTH.
There was no chair for mothers and the nurses to sit, and where to even stand was a problem. The room was always hot because there was no ventilation, and the ceiling also broke leaving the sun's rays directly into the room. The NICU then admitted between six to 10 babies a day but had only three old incubators where three to four babies were kept in one incubator.
The NICU did not have a radiant warmer. So, the sun's rays served as the radiant warmer. Besides, the NICU also had only four old small beds, and one photo machine, which was not the standard one. Those days, the NICU did not really do kangaroo mother care because there was no chair to sit.
Simply put, the NICU did not have full equipment, and it was challenging for nurses to nurse critically ill neonates under such an environment. Due to this, some of the babies died, a situation, which was affecting efforts at reducing infant mortality in the country.
Madam Agwiah, who was then a member of a team of five general nurses, who started the NICU at TTH in 2010, said the situation was brought to the attention of MTN Ghana Foundation hence the construction of the new NICU.
New developments
The TTH had recently opened a new NICU on a new storey building, which had been completed as part of the second phase of the expansion works on the hospital. This new NICU, which is being used in addition to the one built by the MTN Ghana Foundation, is in the same building with the Maternity Block of the hospital.
Dr Adam Atiku, Acting Chief Executive Officer of TTH told the GNA that 'Through our partnership with the USAID and other partners, we built an ultra-modern NICU with modern equipment and gadgets. it is bigger and has more sophisticated and complex equipment.'
Dr Atiku, however, said 'the only thing that we do not have now is a mothers' hostel, where the mothers can rest and sleep when their children are on admission, and when it is time for them to express their breast milk and or feed their children, then they can come in' adding 'So, we are working with our partners to build a mothers' hostel .'
The way forward
Giving birth to critically ill neonates is a common phenomenon. The country continues to record a number of them each day. However, most health facilities do not have the necessary facilities to adequately cater for such babies. That single investment by the MTN Ghana Foundation has touched lives of many families by restoring their joy in the form of saving the lives of their babies.
It is, therefore, important that corporate organisations continue to partner the government to address some of the major problems affecting the people to improve their living conditions.
MTN Foundation has shown the way, leading the private sector to augment government efforts through its social responsibility services.
It is hoped that some private sector actors will open their doors to embrace the new hostel project to host mothers with neonates to be undertaken by the TTH.
Source: Ghana News Agency