SUDDIE Hospital has been boosted with a modern Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to enhance services within the region.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, who commissioned the NICU on Friday in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), underscored the importance of ensuring that there is quality healthcare throughout the length and breadth of Guyana.

Deeming the unit as a “tremendous improvement,” the Health Minister said that similar improvements will follow in other regions.
The equipment costs about US$500,000, while the facility’s retrofitting cost about $38M. This new unit will help save a number of premature infants and provide enhanced care to children in the region.

For context, premature birth is defined as when a baby is born too early, usually before 37 weeks. The earlier the baby is born, the higher the risk of death and disability.

The unit now has 10 beds instead of its previous three. It has all the latest technology, including radiant warmers, incubators, infusion (IV) pumps, neonatal and pediatric ventilators, and backup oxygen lines.
While giving some brief remarks, the minister stressed on the importance of a sanitised area to avoid contaminating the fragile babies.

“One of the things we want to ensure is good infection control. So everything you do in this space, you have to wash your hands properly; you have to make sure you’re sanitised because the babies that would be in here would be very vulnerable and so those types of practices, we want to make sure they’re at the optimum,” he said.

Furthermore, Pediatrician, Kalesh Latchmarine also gave praise to the modern facility and stated that it is going to be a major aid to the Suddie Hospital in bettering its services.
While neonatal deaths at the aforementioned hospital are low and they have delivered over 1,000 babies, he said it is their goal to completely eliminate neonatal deaths.