Ms Hoek, who worked as a midwife volunteer at the Central Hospital, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that she was touched by the needless maternal deaths recorded at the Central Hospital.

According to her, she experienced two maternal deaths at the labour ward which moved her to go back to her country, The Netherlands, to bring the equipment to help enhance maternal and newborn care  at the hospital.

The equipment, including three new modern delivery beds, incubators, baby cots, theatre beds, surgical equipment, mattresses, bed sheets and GTG equipment used in examining the heart beats of unborn babies while in the mother’s womb, were purchased with her own pocket money.

Ms Hoek also made a similar donation to the Yendi Government Hospital in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region.

Maternal deaths

The Medical Superintendent of the Central Hospital, Dr Mahamadu Mbiniwaya, said the equipment had come in at the right time since lack of such delivery equipment was a challenge to the efforts by the hospital to help reduce maternal and infant mortality.

Dr Mbiniwaya told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the hospital, in 2016, recorded five maternal deaths which could have been prevented with the right modern equipment, commending Ms Hoek for the gesture.

Dr Mbiniwaya also used the opportunity to appeal for support for the tarring of the entire compound of the hospital to help reduce the dust and the mud experienced during each dry and rainy season, respectively.

He stated that the situation got worse during the rainy season as patients who visited the facility carried the mud into the wards and consulting rooms which negatively impacted on the quality of health care at the hospital.

He said it was unfortunate that the hospital, which was constructed in 1928 to serve the people of Tamale and its environs, had not been tarred.

Appreciation

The Deputy Director in charge of Administration at the Northern Regional Health Directorate, Mr Imoro Mahama, who received the items on behalf of the hospital at a short ceremony at the forecourt of the Fistula Centre at the hospital last Wednesday, expressed his appreciation to the donor for the gesture.

The equipment, he said, would go a long way to improve upon maternal health care at the hospital and also prevent deaths among newborns, especially premature babies.

He appealed to other individuals, groups and corporate organisations to emulate Ms Hoek’s gesture by supporting health care at the periphery since government alone could not shoulder all the responsibilities in providing modern equipment in all  hospitals across the country.