Preterm babies require special care in intensive care unit

I read with pain, so much pain, the story of 24-year-old Haula Namakula who lost all her six babies, born prematurely at Rubaga Hospital in Kampala, last week.
Namakula’s babies are now just a statistic, adding to the more than 9,800 babies who die annually because they are born too soon. Prematurity birth is when a baby is born before 37 weeks.

Statistics show that 226,000 babies are born too early annually in Uganda. The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks Uganda the 13th out of 184 countries for highest number of babies born prematurely and 11th for number of deaths due to complications from preterm birth. Prematurity birth, also known as preterm birth, is the leading cause of newborn deaths.

In short, to be born premature, means complicated medical problems and possibly early death of the baby. However, advance neonatal care and treatments for preterm babies have greatly increased the chances for survival of even the smallest babies.
Namakula’s story is just one of the many we hear or not even hear about in this country. I would really want to point a finger at Rubaga Hospital and especially the medical workers who handled her cases. But again, Rubaga Hospital is just one of the several hospitals in this country where little or no attention is paid to prematurity births.

Images of Namakula’s babies were splashed before our eyes on television. We saw people gathered around the babies. Which, was invasion of privacy and exposing the preterm babies to several health risks.
Why would a trained medical person expose the preterm babies to every Tom, Dick and Sserujack to marvel at, exposing them to infection and cold? Why would a trained medical person carry a preterm baby to the general ward?

Why on earth would a hospital accept to deliver multiple preterm babies well-knowing that they lack the facilities, even, the most basic such as sterilised rooms, oxygen or incubator? I am not a medical worker, but a mother who had a preterm baby and together with other mothers, now runs a support group that raises awareness, gives counselling and offers moral support to parents of preterm babies at no charge. We simply use our experience to help other parents.
In the group, we have mothers who had five babies, four, three or one. These babies weighed grams but due to simple critical steps, they have grown to give their parents so much joy.

Two most serious problems of preterm births are respiratory distress and immature brains. A preterm baby, even forgets that they must breath. And so care should have been taken to ensure the ambulance used to transfer the babies from Rubaga Hospital to Mulago Hospital, had all the needed medical equipment, oxygen and well trained medical personnel to pay attention to the babies.
Preterm babies often require special care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In general, the earlier the preterm baby, the greater the likelihood that life support will be needed, meaning longer stay in the NICU.

Uganda generally lacks care for prematurity birth; it is time that government pays attention and put in place affordable facilities to save the many needless deaths of preterm babies.
While a few private hospitals in the country are doing a commendable job saving preterm babies at affordable costs, essential new born care is lacking in nearly all hospitals across the country.
Many preterm babies die due to lack of simple, but essential care such as warmth and feeding support.

Some of the hospitals in the country leave everything to chance because there is no standard set by government.
The new Mulago Neonatal and Women’s Hospital that was recently built to help save preterm babies, is out of reach for many parents due to high charges.
The poor attitude of healthcare providers, who perceive the death of any premature baby as inevitable, should also be urgently changed.

[email protected]