Mombasa County unveils first High Dependence Unit for newborn babies in the country

In a bid to reduce the infant mortality rate in the Coast region, a High Dependency Unit (HDU) for premature and underweight babies has been set up.

The unit established at the Coast General Teaching and Referral hospital in Mombasa County will provide critical care for the newborns to increase their chances of survival.

The upgraded unit at the hospital’s maternity wing, which can accommodate 40 infants and 20 mothers a day, is a Sh21 million partnership between Mombasa County and Safaricom.

Speaking at the launch of the facility last week, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said the project is a step in the right direction towards improvement of the delivery of health services in the county.

Mr Joho said with the upgraded neonatal unit and other recent developments, the referral hospital is at par with private hospitals in the county.

“This is the first neonatal unit of its kind in this region and it will give infants a chance of survival. The status of this hospital has continued to be enhanced. It is not easy to go to a public hospital and see a patient smiling,” he said.

Service delivery

Safaricom Foundation trustee Rita Okuthe praised public-private partnerships and urged other counties to embrace them to improve service delivery.

“As Safaricom Foundation, we are advocating for access to maternal, newborn and child heath services. One of the ways we are doing this is by giving infrastructure support to enable the provision and improvement of healthcare services,” she said.

Safaricom Foundation pumped in Sh12 million to renovate the newborn unit, incubation room, baby cot section, the doctors’ offices and upgraded maternity ward that can accommodate 20 women, while the county equipped the newborn unit with incubators, baby warmers, baby cots, resuscitators and ward beds at Sh9 million.

Among those present at the launch were MP Aisha Hussein, county chief officer for medical services Khadija Shikely, and hospital chief administrator Iqbal Khandwalla.