Paediatricians hold forum on child health
Nursing mothers have been advised to promptly report cases of jaundice to health institutions for immediate medical attention. Jaundice is a liver condition that causes the yellowing of the skin and the white portion of the eyes.
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The condition, known as Neonatal Jaundice in newborn babies, has the tendency of causing death and brain damage. Some of the causes of the condition are differences in the blood group of the mother and baby, infection of the baby’s blood, liver malfunction and enzyme deficiency.
Nursing mothers have also been cautioned to avoid exposing their babies to the sun and waiting for a week to have naming ceremonies even when the baby is showing signs of the disease such as paleness of the skin and frequent defecation.
These were some of the outcomes of a two-day annual scientific conference of paediatricians held in Accra last Friday. The forum was organised by the Paediatric Society of Ghana (PSG), in collaboration with PZ Cussons, and was on the theme: ”Every Child Matters”.
Number of Paediatricians
At the ceremony, Professor Jennifer Welbeck, who spoke on the topic, “Paediatric care in Ghana: the past, the present and the future’’, said she was concerned about the low number of paediatricians in the country, who were using their expert knowledge in managing childhood diseases including neonatal jaundice.
She has, under the circumstances, urged schools of medicine in the country to increase the intake of paediatric students.
“That would help the country deal with health conditions such as neonatal jaundice and other illnesses that affect newborn babies,” Professor Welbeck said.
Ghana Health Service
For her part, Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, who is also the Deputy Director of Reproductive and Child Health at the Ghana Health Service, called on members of the PSG to strengthen advocacy in child health and build more partnerships and should also seek support from donors.
She commended the society for their advocacy in immunisation as well as efforts they were making to improve the health of newborn babies through the training of midwives.
Awareness creation
The President of the PSG, Dr Ebenezer Badoe, said it was necessary that awareness was created of childhood diseases that were prevalent so they could give support to children that needed medical attention.
He further urged the government to make significant efforts to promote the well-being of children.
“The government must understand that children need support to stay healthy and grow healthy,” he said.
Labour guidelines
Giving a presentation on the topic, “Preparation for Child Birth”, Dr Naa Djama Glover, a paediatrician at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital at Winneba, said guidelines on child delivery should be made available in labour rooms for easy reference while ambulance services were also to be arranged in advance in case there were referrals.
She called for communication among health practitioners stressing that, “paediatricians should consult their colleagues in related fields before taking on delivery cases”.
The Vice-President of the PSG, Dr Maame Yaa Nyarko, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that in the last five years, the society had held pre-conference workshops to equip paediatric nurses and other child-health professionals with the needed skills in handling newborn babies.
