By Arret Jatta
A severe shortage of incubators and radiant warmers at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) neonatal units has led to a dire situation where up to four babies are forced to share a single unit, compromising neonatal care and contributing to a high mortality rate.
This alarming revelation was made in a report presented to the National Assembly by Fatou Cham, Member for Sanementereng and chairperson of the gender committee.
The report, which was based on an oversight tour conducted by the Select Committee on Gender, Children and Social Welfare, highlighted the critical shortages in healthcare and medical equipment in various institutions across the country.
“Neonatal Unit (EFSTH): A severe shortage of incubators and radiant warmers forces up to four babies to share a single unit, compromising neonatal care and contributing to a high mortality rate,” the report stated.
Reacting to the report’s findings, the National Assembly Member for Kiang West, Lamin Ceesay, delivered an emotional intervention on the floor of parliament, saying: “This does not only highlights four babies sharing a single incubator, but also reveals compromising neonatal care which contributes to high mortality rate. The report is telling us our babies are dying.”
Foñi Berefet’s Amie Colley, who is also a member of the committee, expressed her frustration at the lack of action taken to address the problem.
“This is a general problem that has been happening whenever we visit the hospital. Lack of radiant warmers and incubator is a problem. Whenever we lay our report here, we normally talk about it. Since 2023, we have been talking about these yet the minister of health could not solve it, despite the huge budget approvals for the Ministry of Health. We talk about only EFSTH, but who knows what is happening at Bwiam and other health centres in the country? This is a problem that we definitely need to solve.”
The parliamentary committee’s report also highlighted other critical challenges facing the country’s healthcare system, including the lack of essential drugs, inadequate staffing, and poor infrastructure.
