Jamaica: Cornwall Regional Hospital Nursery to benefit from Run

By Caribbean Medical News
This year Sagicor Sigma Corporate is hosting a run which will benefit the new-borns nursery at the Cornwall Regional Hospital. The purpose of the run is to not only raise funds for the nursery but to also bring awareness to the high death rate of premature infants at the hospital.
They are 700 births per month at the hospital, 60 to 70 are born premature, and this increases the need for incubators, ventilators and vital signs monitors. They are only three functional ventilators at the facility. These words from Consultant Paediatrician at the hospital Dr Tracy Evans Gilbert.
She said, “if three babies come out and there is one ventilator we have that decision to make as to which baby has the best outcome to benefit from this ventilator and although the Hospital recently received a donation of vital sign monitors from Sandals Foundation, it can never be enough, as there are always babies needing access to these support equipment.” Dr Gilbert also added that doctors have to use unconventional methods, such as using the pressure from a tube in a bottle of water to help to keep the baby’s lungs open.
Referring to Sagicor’s donation as “quite handy,” she also emphasised the need for an entire neonatal intensive care unit to cater for the on-going healthcare challenges. She said “what this event is doing is helping us to facilitate something that is really a temporary measure until we can have a bigger unit. What this funding will do is allow more babies to get the best care.”
Even though Jamaica’s child mortality rate has fallen for the children under five, there is still a problem with deaths within the first 28 days. This is primarily because a lot of these babies are premature and the hospital lack resources to sustain them, said the concerned doctor.
The Jamaican Kidney Kids Foundation also stands to benefit from this year’s Sagicor Sigma Run Event.