Suddie Hospital gets $38M retrofitted NICU
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Suddie Hospital in Region Two has been retrofitted and now features state-of-the-art equipment and an increased capacity to accommodate more patients.
The enhancements to the unit cost approximately $38M.
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony led a team of senior health personnel to officially commission the retrofitted facility on Friday
Dr Anthony stated that the Georgetown Public Hospital in partnership with a team from Canada has been working to improve neonatal healthcare services in Guyana.
“In the past, a lot of these services you could have only access in Georgetown, and even at Georgetown at some time they did not have these services. With colleagues out of Canada, they have been helping us to improve neonatal services in Guyana,” Dr Anthony stated.
The health minister disclosed that the effort forms part of a wider programme that will see the neonatal unit at several health institutions nationwide being upgraded. The move also involves training more Pediatricians, among other things.
“They started a pediatric programme and part of the pediatric programme included neonatology. We started at Georgetown hospital. We built the neonatal unit there. Then, we went to New Amsterdam [and] we’re building in West Demerara. So, all the regional hospitals would have similar things,” he highlighted.
Dr Anthony believes that the new upgrade is a great improvement compared to the facility that existed before. He remained adamant that when the programme is rolled out countrywide a lot more newborns will be saved.
He said if further medical intervention is needed, patients will be transferred for specialised care to the city hospital or the Maternal and Paediatrics Hospital that will be constructed soon.
Meanwhile, Head of the Pediatric and Neonatology at the Public Hospital Suddie, Dr Kalesh Latchminarine noted that the facility can now accommodate up to ten patients.
“This hospital delivers over 1000 babies a year. For 2023, we had 26 neonates admitted to the NICU, with the three-bed capacity that we had. But out of over 1000 that we had, at least 160 were pre-termed babies.” The physician explained the media.
The facility is equipped with two ventilators, warmers, and infusion pumps.