CARING FOR A sick child in the neonatal unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital can cost more than $150 000, but the island’s “very low” mortality rate justifies the investment.
Public relations officer of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Charity, Chrispen Walkes, made these comments in an interview with the DAILY NATION yesterday after a service at the Wesleyan Holiness Church in Massiah Street, St John.
He said the department had been doing some excellent work over the years, pointing out that there were several stories of babies who had issues at birth and weighed a single pound, but were walking around quite healthy and excelling today.
Walkes said equipment such as incubators, heart monitors and ventilators cost close to $40 000 and that the cheapest piece was the pump that controlled the IV drip, which costs at least $5 000.
