The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi is appealing for more life-saving medical equipment to improve care for preterm babies at its neonatal intensive care unit.

As a major referral centre serving 12 out of Ghana’s 16 regions, KATH reports that between 44 and 50 percent of babies admitted are preterm—a situation placing immense pressure on its limited facilities.

According to Dr. Yaw Opare Larbi, Deputy Medical Director of the hospital, the neonatal unit faces severe equipment shortages despite having a few functional incubators.

“During peak admission periods, we are sometimes forced to place up to four babies in a single incubator, even though it’s designed for one or two,” he told Kumasi FM’s Elisha Adarkwah.

Dr. Larbi made the appeal during the launch of Prematurity Awareness Month, organised by the Paediatric Society of Ghana under the theme “Equitable Care for Every Preterm Baby.”

He listed incubators, ventilators, CPAP machines, and radiant warmers among the most urgently needed items to enhance the survival of premature infants.

Adding her voice, Christiana Ofori Acquah, a Neonatal Nurse Specialist at KATH’s Mother and Baby Unit, revealed that four incubators are currently out of service, further worsening the challenge.

“We don’t even have a ventilator at the moment,” she lamented.

“It saddens my heart to see how this affects the babies who depend on us.”

She appealed to the government, corporate bodies, and benevolent organisations to step in with urgent support, stressing that improved equipment could significantly reduce preterm mortality rates and give every baby “a fair chance at life.”