The Talensi District Hospital has become the first district facility to win a quiz competition on Neonatal Jaundice meant for health workers working at various district hospitals in the Upper East Region.
Being the maiden edition, the quiz competition featured five district facilities including, Bongo District Hospital, Bolgatanga represented by the Regional Hospital, Zebila, Talensi, and the War Memorial Hospital in the Kassena Nankana Municipality.
At the end of the competition, which had all questions related to Neonatal Jaundice, Talensi District Hospital emerged winners with 52 points, followed by the Regional Hospital with 44 points. Bongo placed 3rd with 43 points whiles War Memorial Hospital and Zebila Hospital came 4th and 5th with 41 and 30 points respectively.
Neonatal Jaundice is a liver condition that causes yellowing of a newborn baby’s skin and eyes and is common in preterm babies with some of the causes being an immature liver, infection, medication, or blood disorders which can sometimes cause serious complications or death.
In 2020, Ghana is said to have recorded 10,684 Jaundice cases in newborns nationwide. Meanwhile, in the 1st quarter of 2024, the Upper East Regional Hospital recorded over 40 cases of Neonatal Jaundice.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the quiz competition, Stephen Atindana Abane, Nurse in charge of the Neonatal Care Unit of the Talensi District Hospital and one of the lead organizers, noted that the essence of the competition, organized at the Regional level after a similar Exercise in Talensi last year, is to create the awareness on the condition and motivate health workers to improve the care for newborn babies.
According to him, jaundice related deaths are avoidable but due to late reporting to health facilities, some babies end up developing serious complications or dying as a result.
“Neonatal Jaundice affects everybody. It doesn’t matter where you stay or where you come from so doing it in Talensi was just for the district but we won’t achieve total improvement of newborn care for all babies in the region that is why we think, let’s make a regional program so that people will get to learn more about it and the health workers will be inspired to improve the care for newborn babies. We think that no child should die from Neonatal Jaundice but this happens due to late reporting and ignorance on the part of parents.”
The participants from Talensi, after winning the maiden edition, expressed excitement, adding the competition has renewed their love for caring for babies.
