How our ‘premature babies’ survived through oxygen therapy

The single most worrying fear plaguing most pregnant women in recent times is preterm delivery as well as survival of their babies.

From primary health centres through secondary to tertiary health facilities, there have been reports of pre-term babies, especially in Cross River State.

A number of deaths have been recorded among the pre-term babies leaving their parents devastated.

But the government and stakeholders are not sleeping over the worrisome issue.

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Mrs Ekana Samphill, a middle-aged, Calabar-based teacher, said she was not due for delivery when she had symptoms and pains of childbirth. She was admitted to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) in September this year.

She said, “I woke up one morning in September 2024 and saw that I was ‘leaking’.  I was not due for delivery. I was rushed to UCTH, where they admitted me.

“Experts tried their best to manage the situation for a week. On 12 September, I was delivered of twin babies. They were pre-term with extremely low weights. One was 0.7 while the other was 0.8.

“They were taken to the Sick Baby Unit, SBU where they were managed, so that the one that was 0.7 became 1.84.

“But unfortunately, the one that was 0.8 couldn’t make it and died. I don’t blame anyone. They had prepared my mind about what to expect. The medical experts told me that their chances of survival were 50-50, meaning that the possibility of them or one not making it was high. My babies were actually very tiny.”

The woman lamented that as a lowly paid teacher, she and her husband struggled to buy oxygen for the two babies at N24,000 per day which amounted to N209,000. Her husband is also a teacher.

She also explained that to buy baby formula for the baby at N12,500 per week was way out of her reach.

Speaking, head of SBU in UCTH, Esther Esemwenre Onal, in an interview with visiting journalists, explained that many of these preterm babies do have respiratory distress, requiring oxygen.

The journalists were on a field   visit to the facility during a media dialogue on sick newborn and zero dose organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Calabar.

She therefore stressed the need for constant availability of oxygen so that they do not have to leave the facility in search of it.

She said some of the babies could have what she described as community acquired pneumonia. And so, they have to daily ascertain availability of oxygen, oxygen concentrator, nasal prone, suction machines.

Even though disclosed that there are critical items needed in the unit such as suction machines, ammo bags, etc., she also appealed for constant change so that they do not have to repeatedly use them for many premature babies brought in frequently.

Onal disclosed that many parents are often unable to afford costs of tests and other requirements, stating that it is another big challenge to them.

The expert mentioned the importance of incubators but that they have only three functioning in a unity with high turnover sick babies requiring them.

“I emphasise the importance of oxygen and need to change many items in the unit which we used frequently for sick babies. We need more incubators to cope with high numbers of sick babies. Many parents have no financial strengths to readily afford services. They need interventions to pay out pneumonia and stay tests,” she said.

But Dr Kenneth Takim, a medical superintendent and manager of an oxygen plant in a general hospital in Calabar, said they have effectively met the demands for oxygen in the state following efforts of international donor agencies, including UNICEF which established an oxygen plant in Calabar General Hospital.

The plant, said to be the biggest oxygen in the state, is one of the nine so far established in parts of the country.

Takim said many hospitals in the state and beyond now resort to the plant instead of relying on supplies from distant states.

“This plant has helped to address child morbidity, mortality and maternal healthcare significantly. The impact on the public cannot be overemphasised.

“We have met the high demands for oxygen in and outside Cross River.  The capacity of the plant is beyond 300 meters per unit. It is the biggest oxygen facility in the state.  We no longer have shortages, or need to travel to Rivers or other states for supplies,” he said.

Consultant paediatrician at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Dr Glory Bassey, said before now, availability of oxygen was a huge challenge, leading to the deaths of infants in some facilities.

She disclosed that they used to get oxygen supplies all the way from Port Harcourt, Rivers State.  “Presently, oxygen is no longer a problem but finance to pay for it,” she said.

As a way of reducing infant mortality rates, the Cross River government reaffirmed its commitment to improving maternal, newborn, and child health, MNCH.

Wife of the state governor, Eyoanwan Bassey Out, said they have organised medical intervention to deliver an integrated package to improve access to essential, quality MNCH services, consistent with the objectives of the 2007 Integrated MNCH Strategy.

“The specific objective of MNCH week focuses on the reduction of maternal prenatal, infant and childhood mortality and morbidity and the promotion of reproductive health and the physical and psychological development of the child and adolescent within the family.

“This is to improve the health status of women and children by increasing the coverage of key MNCH interventions, improve the utilisation of routine services, contribute to health systems strengthening, improve key healthy household practices and improve utilisation of health information management systems.

“Therefore, it is imperative for government at all levels to focus on ensuring women of child bearing age, pregnant women and children less than five years of age benefit from cost effective health care services,” she said.