By Lara Pickford-Gordon Thursday, November 27 2008

Former head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) Dr Petronella Manning-Alleyne yesterday said intensive care for a newborn does not guarantee survival.

“The guarantee resides in the effort and hope for a quality outcome. The prayer has always been the strength to cope with whatever that outcome might be. Life is precious but death is a reality,” said Manning-Alleyne who is now a consultant to the refurbished neonatal special care unit.

Speaking at the official opening yesterday at the PoSGH she said staff have walked with “too many” parents through denial and anger while they journeyed to healing.

She publicly apologised to the families who were “missed” because time did not allow staff to properly prepare them for their loss. “We are really sorry but it was not an affront. Our hope is that you have been able to return to good health.”

Manning-Alleyne, sister of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, said significant upgrade was done to the building’s plumbing, and new systems installed for oxygen, suction, compressed air and electrical “which have all been sized to suit the anticipated requirements of the entire obstetric and neonatal services.”

She said these developments marked the “coming of age” for the facility.

Alluding to criticisms of the health sector, Manning-Alleyne said it was “open season” on the health sector. She said this may be due to the sector’s inability to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology and the diversification of medical specialties and sub-specialties. She said the public’s expectations have been fuelled by experiences gained through travel “whether physical or through the Net” and US medical television dramas like House. She said the opening of the unit was an opportunity to showcase a major achievement in the fledgling area of neonatal, perinatal medicine.

“We have come a long way. We now have a cadre of trained dedicated nursing staff. We also boast an administration that is sensitive to our medical staffing needs,” she said.

There were also space constraints with maximum use being made of the available space.

The unit was refurbished at a cost of $3.9 million and now has a staff lounge, conference room, on call rooms, breastfeeding room, bereavement room. The project took two and a half years to complete. She said the Unit has housed every baby born at the facility “public, private or referred from Tobago.”

Health Minister Jerry Narace said, “This neonatal unit brings us closer to achieving our national goal of significantly reducing infant mortality.” He said this was part of the development index for the country’s epidemiological profile.

He said investing in health particularly of mothers and newborns was a vital part of social and economic development and in keeping with two of the millennium development goals. These are reducing the mortality rate of children under five years and reducing maternal mortality.

Highlighting a “success story” from the unit, Martina Seenath-Nicholas spoke of her son Mark Jude who was born at 26 weeks on October 29 last year weighing one pound four ounces. “It was an uphill battle. The staff at the neonatal unit were our family.

“Their encouragement, love, dedication and loyalty gave us courage and hope.

“They were always honest about the situation involved.” She said their hard work and the family’s prayers contributed to Mark being now one-year-old and exceptional.