Premature baby's life under threat as hospitals lack incubators

Sharjah: A Palestinian family is worried about the health of their prematurely born baby as the hospitals they have approached have no incubator.

The Royal Hospital in Sharjah, where the baby was born on Friday, is asking the father to take the baby away from the hospital because it does not have proper facilities.

The grandmother of the child, Umm Ala'a, told Gulf News that her daughter-in-law, who lives in Fujairah, was on her way to Ajman to visit her (the grandmother) when labour pains began.

The nearest hospital was Royal Hospital in Sharjah on Airport road, the grandmother said. She said the baby girl was born after 36 weeks of pregnancy. "When the mother was admitted to the hospital, they asked us to sign documents for admission which included a daily payment of Dh2,400 for the incubator."

Umm Ala'a said the father signed the documents and paid the money. "Suddenly the hospital asked us to move the baby, saying it did not have the equipment."

No space

Her son contacted several government hospitals, but they said they had no space for the baby. "We tried with a hospital in Ajman, one in Sharjah, and another in Dubai but no one accepted our daughter," she said.

The grandmother said a private hospital asked for Dh35,000 for each day in the incubator. The baby would be kept there for a month. Another hospital in Dubai asked for Dh20,000 per day for the use of the incubator, she said.

"Private hospitals are asking for an unreasonable amount of money for an incubator and government hospitals have instructed private hospitals not to send any baby who needs incubator to them [the government hospitals]," she alleged. Umm Ala'a said government hospitals told the father that no baby will be admitted after being referred to them from a private hospital.

"My son is the father of three boys and this is his first daughter," she said. My son is fearing he will lose his baby girl."

Umm Ala'a said: "We were not told that we would have to take the baby out after two days. We cannot take her out of the hospital. We paid for the delivery and the charges every day," she said. She asked why the hospital did not tell the father at the beginning that they did not have the required equipment.

A spokesman from Royal Hospital said they admitted the mother as she was in labour. "We have no incubator for the baby. We cannot reject the mother as she had labour pain.

"We gave the father the contact number of several hospitals in the country to find one that can receive the baby as here in the hospital we do not have the equipment to support the life of the baby."

Have you suffered because of a shortage of Postnatal care? Should there be a minimum requirement for medical equipment in hospitals?