MTN Foundation Begins Construction Of NICU @ TTH

Hospital and MTN Officials at Sod-cutting

Ghana’s leading mobile telephone company, MTN– has begun the construction of an ultramodern Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, the only referral facility for tertiary care for the three regions of the North.

The construction of the facility by the corporate social responsibility arm of the company, MTN Foundation, is geared towards providing a well equipped NICU that would significantly improve the survival rates for critically ill neonates, and for that matter take wider steps in satisfying the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) four global initiative intended to reduce infant mortality in Ghana.

Records show that the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions have the highest incidence of maternal and child mortality rates in the country. Low coverage in family planning and antenatal care for pregnant women among other challenges, often lead to conditions that would call for intensive neonatal care.

Ahead of the sod-cutting last week to begin the construction of the GH¢335,000.00 medical facility at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, MTN Foundation also presented vital medical equipment to the Chereponi Polyclinic worth several thousands of Ghana cedis.

General Manager of MTN Northern Business District James Basintale, said the donation to the two hospitals marked the Foundation’s first intervention in the area of health in the Northern Region and also formed part of the celebration of its fifth year in enriching and impacting lives positively.

According to him, since the inception of the MTN Foundation, an amount of GH¢9,724,415.00 million had been invested in health, education and economic empowerment projects across the country. This support, Mr. Basintale explained, took various forms that include building schools, refurbishing old structures, providing ICT infrastructure, educational and non-educational materials.

The Tamale Teaching Hospital is a major referral health facility that served the Upper West and Upper East Regions as well as the Northern part of the Brong Ahafo Region. The hospital as part of its mandate provided advanced clinical services in the areas such as general surgery, eye, ear, nose and throat (ENT), dental, urology, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, medical diagnostics, internal medicine and paediatrics.

Currently, the NICU at the paediatrics department of the hospital lacks the needed facilities for effective management of critically ill neonates. The unit is limited in capacity both in space and equipment. For instance, there is only one NICU bed that serves a client base of over three million, compared to WHO’s recommendation that prescribes about 30 NICU beds per a population of one million.

Furthermore, equipment at the neonatal intensive care unit have outlived their usefulness and some are just being managed because of the constant breakdown in these machines, making NICU care relatively ineffective.