Cracking Health Facility, Infants Sharing incubators

At Kiambu level five hospital infants are sharing incubators, the situation is intense that we have upto three infants in one incubator. This is a reflection of congestion at the neonatal intensive care unit. Last week, County Health Executive Mary Kamau confirmed that 60 infants had died at the hospital in two months.

The hospital, which has also been grappling with poor infrastructure and equipment in other units, has eight incubators at the intensive-care nursery in the newborn unit, with an average of 16 pre-term babies at a time.

According to doctors, It is not advisable for pre-mature babies to share an incubator, these babies are premature and are out of danger  and are taken to gain weight.

Dr Grace Aketch, head of the paediatric unit, says the nursery has a capacity for 40 babies but handles about 66 pre-term babies at any given time.

“In the pre-term unit there are eight incubators,” Dr Aketch said. “We receive babies that are 28 weeks old, with an average weight of a kilogramme. Such cases are complicated. We do not have a general intensive care unit. Despite the problems, we do all we can to ensure that they gain at least a kilogramme.”

Ms Judy Mukiira, the nursing officer in charge of the newborn unit, said their facilities were overstretched since they receive referrals from other public and private facilities in Kiambu and Nairobi.