TİKA Provided a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to Guinea

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) opened a neonatal intensive care unit with an oxygen generator in the Conakry Ignace Deen Hospital, the first hospital built in the West African country of Guinea, where hundreds of newborns die every year.

The opening ceremony of the intensive care unit was attended by Djene Kaba Condé, First Lady of Guinea; Colonel Remy Lamah, Minister of Health of Guinea; Hilmi Ege Türemen, the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Conakry, and his wife, Didem Türemen; Gökhan Keser, TİKA’s Conakry Coordinator; hospital staff; and many press members.

In the speech she delivered after opening the unit, First Lady Djene Kaba Condé said, “TİKA has implemented many projects in the field of health. It has trained many doctors, nurses, and midwives in newborn care, resuscitation, and emergency response. When 12 newborns died at the Donka Hospital in 2017 due to power outage, TİKA solved our problem by providing generators. I would like to thank the Presidents of these two countries and First Lady Emine Erdoğan for their assistance. Turkey also promised to build a children’s hospital on the campus of the Donka Hospital, and an area has already been allocated for this hospital.”

The intensive care unit can generate its own oxygen thanks to the oxygen generating system installed in the hospital as part of the project implemented by TİKA. Operating 24/7 uninterruptedly, the on-site oxygen generating system eliminates the safety risks caused by other sources of gas, as well as extra workload and costs associated with outsourcing oxygen, such as refill procedures, ordering processes, tank rents, shipping costs, and any future increase in the price of oxygen. As part of the project, TİKA also provided 5 incubators, 2 radiant heaters, and 10 baby cots to the hospital.