$12Maternity Ward, NICU for Diamond Hospital
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, February 12, 2020
The Ministry of Public Health today commissioned a $12 million maternity ward at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
The new facility, which also includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), has now made life easier for pregnant women living along the East Bank corridor.
The unit was commissioned by Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence who noted that the Ministry is making bold steps in improving its health system, including its Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services.
“We are striving to have the best healthcare system in the Americas and we have to recognise the efforts made by our nursing fraternity to improve themselves, improve their skills so that they can be able to better serve communities,” she told DPI.
The unit is manned by Staff Nurse/Midwife Travady Bowen-Manbodh, along with six doctors and five midwives.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can accommodate three newborns at any one time. The hospital is also outfitted with a main operating theatre to readily carry out emergency surgeries after a delivery.
Since its opening, the unit has been attending to several prenatal mothers. Nine babies have so far been delivered for this year. Last year, the unit saw the safe delivery of over 70 babies.
Nurse/Midwife Manbodh said the hospital is focusing on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) numbers one and two- reducing infant and maternal mortality rates,
Apart from the delivery and NICU, the unit also offers clinical services, which have since reduced the number of patients at other health facilities.
Welcoming the new unit, Dr Abdulla Amin said the situation today has vastly improved compared to when he joined the hospital ten years ago. He said the “very small” room that existed then was hardly sufficient to provide the necessary services.
“From then, this is what we have arrived at!” he exclaimed. “We thank the minister that we can move from a room to a maternity unit.”