The Kenyatta National Hospital neonatal unit admits more than 200 infants per day despite having a capacity to hold only 50 babies.
Dr Gacheri Nyamu, a pediatrician and neonatologist at KNH said even though they have all the facilities within its reach, they are forced to reach out to other medical practitioners to help in caring for the high number of babies.
Speaking on Friday during the World Prematurity Day held at KNH grounds, Nyamu said the facility becomes overstretched during the frequent industrial actions by staff in other hospitals.
“Last year during the strike, the numbers went to as high as 4,000 babies. During the first quarter of this year, we admitted more than 800 infants,” she added.
Nyamu said the recently launched ‘Linda Mama’ initiative has helped reduce the backlog especially from mothers who could not leave the hospital after being discharged due to financial constraints during the clearing of bills.
“The county governments should encourage mothers to go for anti-natal clinic visits in health facilities near them and leave other cases to KNH,” Nyamu said.
She said more needs to be done to reduce infant mortalities in Kenya.
Related:
Nyamu said there is need to embrace low cost but effective mechanisms to help curb the deaths.
“Kenya is among 15 countries leading in pre-term births globally. Prevalence in KNH is more than 18 per cent. This means 20 in every 100 babies born in the facility are ‘born too soon’,” she said.
Some of these infants encounter a lot of challenges that make them vulnerable.
They include temperature control and feeding difficulty leaving them prone to infections.
This leads to premature births which are the leading cause of deaths among children under five years.
According to UNICEF, 15 million babies are born prematurely each year globally. In Kenya, more than 180,000 children are born prematurely each year and more than 10,000 die annually due to complications.
Health CAS Rashid Aman speaking at the same function said newborns are the most vulnerable population the world over.
“Babies born less than 37 weeks gestation, are particularly at risk,” the CAS said.
He, however, said the government was committed to preventing preterm birth to save the lives of small babies.
The CAS said government leaders, civil society organizations, health workers, families, communities, and other partners should come together to prevent babies from being born too early and ensure they get the nurturing they need.
“Solutions to improve the survival and health of low birth weight babies exist. This can mean the difference between life and death,” he added.