The unveiling of one of two signs donated to Mandeville Regional Hospital on Wednesday, December 13.
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — For many years Mandeville Regional Hospital was unable to adequately care for newborn babies with breathing problems because of resource constraints, including the absence of a ventilator in the Neonatal Unit.
Hospital leaders say those babies had to be transferred to other facilities such as the University Hospital of the West Indies or the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston.
A donation to Mandeville Regional in December by the Sagicor Foundation not only ensured that the Neonatal Unit now has a ventilator, but other equipment as well.
Two patient monitors with mobile stands, one radiant warmer, one blood gas analyser, one resuscitator with accessories, one suction machine, and two humidifiers for the ventilators were also among the approximately $8- million worth of equipment.
The donation was made possible from proceeds of the 2017 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run.
Prior to the gift, the hospital struggled with a high newborn mortality rate — a situation that was recently highlighted in a media report.
At a recent handing over ceremony at the hospital, head of the Paediatrics Department Dr Mauleen Tate-Thompson, said Mandeville Regional had great difficulty keeping premature babies alive beyond two weeks because of the resource limitations.
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