Dr Bright Danyoh, Head of the Paediatric and Child Health sub-BMC of the Ho Teaching Hospital has cautioned paediatric nurses and midwives not to downplay the severity of jaundice in newborns. He said it must be considered an act of crime to ignore the risks of the neonatal jaundice, a disease that threatens almost all newborns with brain damage, loss of eyesight and death. Dr Danyoh gave the caution at the launch of the 2024 Newborn Jaundice Awareness month.
The celebration was on the theme: “The Newborn Jaundice and Exclusive Breastfeeding: Nurses and Midwives Lead,” Present at the Launch were members of the Paediatric and Child Health Sub BMC. The admonition was against the realisation of the role of health workers in the rising incidents of the disease, and stakeholders at the event spoke of how some paediatricians and midwives were found to dismiss the suspicions of mothers although jaundice remained the leading cause of newborn admission. Dr Danyoh said despite successes with awareness campaigns, the attitude of health workers caused severe newborn jaundice to remain a challenge.
He said there was fear of health workers giving out wrong information and false hopes and insisted that they had no right to ignore the signs of the disease. “It is criminal not to know the bilirubin levels of new borns and tell the mothers to go home,” Dr. Danyoh said adding that nurses’ knowledge on early detection would be strengthened through training.
“These things are really g.