Mothers in the communities have raised concerns regarding lack of resources in Tabubil Hospital’s Neonatal Care which has contributed to an increase in the neonatal mortality rate.
By seeing the need, the Ok Tedi Women’s Network (OWN) presented a new Atom Infant Incubator to Tabubil Hospital on June 27th to assist with neonatal care.
The incubator, a much-needed equipment in the hospital’s maternity ward, was purchased at a cost of K50, 000, with proceeds from the OWN 2022 Cancer Awareness Campaign fundraising drive.
This initiative was delivered by OWN after members of the network and mothers from the community raised concerns about the lack of a proper incubator for new infants.
“The 2022 Pinktober initiative to purchase an infant incubator was a collective decision by the OWN, after concerns were raised from women in the workforce and community who went through the daunting experience of a premature or special needs infant,” OWN Executive Committee Secretary Paige Levakia said.
“As part of OWN’s ‘Health, Safety, and Security,’ objective, we thought of doing a fundraising to provide a solution for the women and children in Tabubil and the surrounding communities,” she said.
According to statistics presented by Tabubil Hospital Administrator Ms Margareth Samei, “we are delivering an average of 12 babies per month.”
“Donating this incubator is an example of women in the workforce, giving back to women in the community. This is a milestone as it is the first equipment donated by external partners to the Tabubil Hospital,” Ms Samei said.
Speaking on behalf of the maternity ward staff, mothers, and babies, Tabubil Hospital Paediatrician Dr Venao Seta, thanked OWN for bridging the gap in the quality of neonatal care.
“The 2022 Annual Child Health Mortality and Morbidity Report, showed there was a reduction in neonatal admissions but an increase in the neonatal mortality rate, and one of the many factors involved in this result is the lack of resources in many nurseries, and this initiative has now, bridged that gap,” said Dr Seta.
“With this great initiative, a lot of babies will benefit if they have complications related to prematurity.”
