Well-equipped maternity unit for Dr. CC Nicholson Hospital
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, July 17, 2018
The Dr. CC Nicholson Hospital in Nabacalis is slated for upgrades in order to facilitate Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services along the East Coast of Demerara corridor. Importantly, this will reduce the current number of women seeking MCH services at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
It is expected that this highly anticipated upgrade will take shape after an evaluation and designing stage has been completed. The evaluation process will, amongst other things determine the size of the extended facility and its capacity.
Regional Health Officer (RHO), Demerara-Mahaica, Dr. Quincy Jones hinted that the hospital will have a well-equipped maternity unit for low-risk, normal delivery of babies. This will include an operating theatre and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Jones noted this is an essential complement to maternity services offered at a particular health facility.
“Dr. CC Nicholson Hospital will be a full-fledged birthing centre on the East Coast so patients with relatively low-risk pregnancies could safely deliver there. So, it provides for this kind of care to be more accessible and it also decreases the burden at GPHC which is a tertiary centre catered to offering more specialised health care,” the RHO explained.
Millenium Development Goal Number 5 mandates United Nations Member States to improve Maternal Health. This came to an end in 2015, giving way to Sustainable Development Goals which generally speaks to the achievement of good health and well-being for all.
These two goals look specifically at safeguarding the health and lives of the under-five population. It is, in this regard, that the Inter-American Development Bank has signed a GYD $1.7 Billion (US $8Mllion) loan to reduce maternal, perinatal and neonatal deaths in Guyana.
By: Delicia Haynes.