Rotary Club donates equipment to St Mathias Hospital
The Rotary Club of Sunyani East has presented two infant incubators and other medical equipment worth US$42,858 to the St Mathias Catholic Hospital at Yeji in the Pru West District in the Bono East Region to support the operation of the hospital.
Other equipment donated included a ceiling mounted LED surgical operation lights, fully automated Biochemistry Analyser, a Binocular Microscope, an Autoclave Top Load 50L and an Infant Radiant Heater.
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The presentation of the items was made possible through the Rotary Foundation Global Grant 1979089 and support of other international partners including the Rotary Club of Nanaimo, Rotary Mid-Island Group in Vancouver Islands and the Canadian government.
Efficient healthcare delivery
At a brief ceremony before the presentation, the President of the Sunyani East Rotary Club, Mr Eric Adu Gyamfi, observed that the healthcare delivery system, particularly infant and maternal care, required a lot of investments in order to be very efficient.
“There are new threats, emergencies and unfamiliar cases that require equally sophisticated equipment in the provision of the needed care,” he stated, adding that the government alone could not fill the huge gap that existed in several medical facilities in the country.
Mr Gyamfi, therefore, called on other non-governmental organisations and other well-meaning Ghanaians to join the fight against maternal and infant mortality as expressed in the Sustainable Development Goal three.
“Under no circumstance should a mother die in labour.
Pregnancy is not a disease.
New born children should not die just because there are no incubators to save their innocent souls,” he stated.
Other services
Touching on other services rendered recently, he explained that from 2018 till date the club had inaugurated four major projects traversing the areas of health, education, water and sanitation in the Bono Region.
“We have drilled 22 boreholes and constructed 51 micro-flush toilets.
We have also handed over an ultra-modern six-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities at Nkrankrom in the Tain District,” he stated, adding that in April 2019, the club also handed over medical equipment to seven health facilities in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.
Statistics
The Administrator of the 146-bed hospital, Reverend Sister Parisundam Matangi, said the hospital admitted 861 patients at its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in 2018 out of which 25 died due to the lack of equipment.
She added that out of the 2,257 deliveries recorded by the hospital within the same period, 68 were still births.
Rev. Sister Matangi said the lack of adequate funds for the purchase of essential equipment for the hospital which served as a referral facility for three districts was the major challenge impeding its quest to provide holistic services for its clients.
She appealed for an ambulance as the one they had broke down three years ago, leaving the hospital no option than to convert the staff bus into an ambulance for emergency and referral cases, including pregnant and new-born children.
For his part, the Bono Regional Director of Health, Dr Kofi Issah, who is also in charge of the Bono East and Ahafo regions, said the determinants of health went beyond the Ministry of Health, explaining that without the use of technology in the modern era, no country could provide quality healthcare.