SOROTI CITY: Hospital Staff Ask Gov’t To Expand Neonatal Unit

Posted by: Eninu William in Uganda news November 22, 2023

Staff at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital in Soroti City have asked the government to expand the neonatal intensive care unit. This request follows the overwhelming number of pre-mature babies receiving treatment at the facility.

Dr Florence Alaroker, a senior consultant paediatrician at the Soroti City hospital, said the unit, which has a capacity of about 10 beds, receives between two and four premature babies a day. She added that about 30 to 40 babies can spend up to four months admitted.

“The unit has become very small and yet one bed is shared with about three to four babies,” she told reporters over the weekend.

Dr Alaroker said some babies, many of them less than a kilogram, are born as early as 24 weeks. She advised district leaders to create space in maternity wards in other health facilities to handle some of the premature babies.

This is so that only the complicated cases are sent to the referral hospital. The doctor also called for mass sensitization on early antenatal care to reduce the cases.

Sr Grace Epaku, the hospital’s senior principal nursing officer, asked the government to construct a unit that can accommodate at least 50 babies.

She attributed some of the causes of premature birth to emotional abuse, smoking, teenage pregnancies, and chronic diseases.

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