USD 78,295 equipment donated will go a long way to reduce infant mortality rate
Japanese Grant Assistance For Grassroots Project 9 July, 2010 - The Japanese government yesterday donated three baby warmers, two phototherapy machines, four cardiotocography (CTG) machines and four hand-held foetal Doppler’s worth USD 78,295 to the national referral hospital.
Japanese first secretary Manabu Suzuki, embassy of Japan in Delhi, handed over the equipment to the labour room of the new hospital.
Provided under the Japanese grant assistance for grassroots project, Manabu Suzuki said the equipment were for improvement of basic services in the labour room.
Gynaecologist Dr Ugyen Tshomo said baby warmers would keep babies warm soon after birth, at the same temperature as in a mother’s womb; while the CTG machine would be used for monitoring foetus heart beat and get an early recognition of a baby’s health inside the womb.
The phototherapy machine would be used for treating jaundice, which was common among infants; and the foetal Doppler’s, the size of a remote control, would function like the CTG machine.
“Since they are portable, nurses can carry them anytime during emergencies,” the medical director, Dr Ngawang Tenzin, said.
Dr Ngawang Tenzin said that the hospital’s gynaecology and obstetrics department lacked adequate delivery equipment, which occasionally led to still births.
“Most neonates died from hypothermia and, sometimes, mothers died from excess bleeding after delivery,” he said.
Manabu Suzuki said the Japan government realised Bhutan’s target to reduce infant mortality rate by 50 percent or 20 deaths per thousand live births in the 10th plan.
“We understood the urgency of this situation and decided to upgrade the labour room and make them more dependable,” he said.
Dr Ngawang Tenzin said the new equipment would save the government from incurring some huge expenditure.
“With the increase in birthrate every year, availability of these equipment any time is crucial,” Dr Ugyen Tshomo said.
Unlike the old hospital, the new one has five delivery rooms, each equipped with a baby warmer.
Dr Ngawang Tenzin said the equipment would aid in the already decreasing mortality rate, with the enhanced and improved facilities of the new hospital.
He said the hospital was expecting two vacuum sets for delivery and one ultrasound some time next week.
“The vacuum sets will help suck out the foetus, should a complication arise, and avoid a birth by caesarean,” Dr Ugyen Tshomo said.
The 2009 birth rate records with the hospital showed that 3,500 babies were born that year; an increase by 500 babies compared with 2008.
Until June 2010, some 1,554 babies were born at the hospital this year.
Source: kuenselonline.com |
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