By Mary Kabay
UNICEF on the 31st March 2022 donated assorted medical items , including medicines, to the recently commissioned Safe Care Baby Unit at the China -Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital at Jui with the aim of making the Unit capable of dealing with certain complications and make it sustainable.
Dr. Karim Kabineh, who serves as a Consultant ENT Surgeon and Medical Superintendent at the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospital Sierra Leone and works in the Unit in his statement informed that the unit was commissioned last week by UNICEF adding that the ceremony is meant for the handing over of drugs and other items that were donated. He thanked the Chinese Government and their Embassy Staff for their immense support towards the health sector of the country.
He mentioned that the storage system that the Chinese Embassy is helping to establish will be of great help to them as well as other Units of the hospital furthering how the Chinese Medical Team assessed the Special Baby Care Unit (SBCU) and approved it as well as assessing the strength of the staff expressing optimism that the training of the local staff will be continued to keep them fit for their respective assignments.
The representative from the Chinese Embassy, who also doubles as Public Health Officer, Dr Xia Yin Yin stated that the Special Baby Care Units is financially supported through the Chinese South -South Cooperation Assistance Fund which was established with great efforts and devotion made by the United Nations Children Fund and the Jui Hospital with great help from the 22nd and 23rd batch of the Chinese Medical Team and the Jui P3 Biosafty Kab experts. She expressed deep appreciation to the above organizations and their staff for helping build the splendid Special Baby Care Unit at the Jui hospital.
Dr Xia said she is convinced of the fact that the Unit will go a long way in enhancing the quality of baby care services in nearby communities and help reduce neonatal deaths like the other special care baby unit in the Kailahun Hospital which is also supported by the South -South Cooperation Assistance Fund, led by UNICEF which has been giving services to new born babies and mothers since 2020 of around 100-150 babies every quarter saying in the 4th quarter in 2021it treated 128 new born babies with 92% survival rate.
Climaxing her statement she thanked the partners that have been supporting the hospital also mentioning past assistances that the Chinese Government has been rendering to Sierra Leone since 1973 including provision of medical experts and donating medical equipment as well as items during the Ebola and the Corona virus outbreaks.
The Chinese Medical Team lead by Xij Zhou explained about the inception of the hospital as a whole and particularly the department that the Safe Baby Unit is under which according to her is the Pediatric Department. She said most of the equipment that were donated to the neonatal ward were from the Chinese Center of Disease Control and part of the special funds for the project also came from the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund.
She said the construction started in 2021 adding that with the team’s strength and wisdom they pushed to quickly undertake and complete the construction work with the Chinese staff involved in the designing of the Ward with the available equipment. She vowed to continue the good work with her team to enhance operation and maintenance of the project.
Dr. Sinstina Gbondo heartily thanked the Chinese Government, UNICEF and other partners for making numerous sacrifices to see the Safe Baby Care Unit turn out to become a reality. She said with the help of the Chinese Medical Team and their continuous training they hope to see the lives of babies being saved through the help of God.
She, however, said the facility is open to outsiders also as it is not only meant for babies that are born at the Jui Hospital.
