Rotary donates neonatal building to Lagos govt

By Wale Otegbade

To contribute to the reduction of deaths of newborn babies, Rotary Club of Omole Golden has built, equipped and donated a new neonatal building to the Lagos State Government.

The building, located within the premises of Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, is designed to cater for the neonatal period of the newborn, which is the first 28 days and most critical period for both pre-term and full-term babies that are sick.

The new building will be equipped with incubators, phototherapy machines and other medical equipment strictly use in the care of preterm and full-term babies. During the commissioning of the facility, the club President, Hassan Alih Ogwu, said the effort is to reduce neonatal deaths as well as ensuring survival of babies born in the hospital and Lagos as a whole.

“This project means so much to me, especially because it has to do with saving lives. I’m very passionate about children and this is specifically for them. The importance of what we’re doing here today is for infants not to lose their lives due to lack of infrastructure and facilities. We’re equipping this place with incubators and with the building I’m sure the issue of space has been put to rest.

“Rotary is giving every child an opportunity to live. Rotary Club is to intervention is all about service to humanity.  The project is in two phases, the first is the completion of the building and the second phase is to equip the structure with State of the art equipment and to ensure that is functional.

“We cannot quantify the building in naira and kobo but the number of lives it is going to save. The survival of newborns is important. We are starting with 20 incubators and phototherapy machines. As time goes on, we intend to increase it,” he said.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, who described the day as a day of joy, said Rotary Club Omole deserves to be celebrated for always symbolizing issues that matter.  In Lagos, neonatal deaths are taken seriously and investigation into the deaths of babies to prevent future occurrence is always carried, he said.

The hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Olusola Amure, said the new facility would be put to good use. “What Rotary has done will go a long way in reducing neonatal mortality in the hospital and the state at large. We do take every neonatal death seriously because we do review them to prevent future occurrence.  It is more work for health workers. Babies born less than 26 weeks have difficulty surviving outside the womb but an incubator will help with their breathing and treatment. The incubator will produce the best artificial condition that is similar to the womb of the mother,” Amure stated.