New neonatal centre opened in Odessa City

On September 25, a new "Cradles of Hope" neonatal centre was officially opened within the premises of perinatal centre of Odessa Regional clinical hospital. The centre was opened in the framework of "Cradles of Hope" program of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation aimed at reducing infant mortality rate and improving life standards of those who was saved, as well as facilitating the Government in the course of transition to the international newborns registration standards.

This has been the eleventh Centre opened by the Foundation since the launch of the program in the year 2006. According to Nikolai Bayazitov, deputy head physician of Odessa Regional clinical hospital, the Centre is being "the first specialized unit in Ukraine capable of providing complete course of treatment to extremely low-birth-weight infants". The head of health care standing committee of Odessa City Council, Irina Golovatyuk-Yuzefpolskaya said that opening of the neonatal centre in Odessa City was an event of great importance. "A child can be saved; however, the most crucial thing is to ensure that a child would not have any pathology in future. This equipment will enable us not only to save a child's life but also to maintain it within proper conditions in the hospital and to normalize its weight and general state of health". According to head of health care standing committee of Odessa Region Council, Lyudmila Budyak, the opening of "Cradle of Hope" centre is an invaluable contribution into the development of public health care of the region.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation purchased for the Centre the following equipment: two Atom V Incubators - 2100G, IW-950 "Fisher & Paykel" neonatal resuscitation table, BEAR-Cub-750 machine for artificial lung ventilation, Graphic monitor Bear-7504 respirator machine, Infant Flow SIPAP, Medela phototherapy lamp, two-chamber infusion pumps АР 22, Novametrix cardiotachometer, model 2001, pressure monitor Colin BP8800 Press Mate, Multifunctional stands, Tanita electronic scales, Atom V-80TR mobile infant incubator, Resuscitation kit for infants, fetal monitor, computer workstation and other equipment. Total cost of all equipment delivered to the Centre in Odessa City made up $145 403.

The opening ceremony of the Centre was attended by Yelizaveta Shunko, chief neonatology expert of the Health Care Ministry of Ukraine; Andrey Tkachuk, Deputy Chairman of Odessa Region Administration; Lyudmila Budyak, head of health care and maternity and child welfare standing committee of Odessa Region Council; Irina Golovatyuk-Yuzefpolskaya, head of health care standing committee of Odessa City Council, ; Alexander Liman, Chief Physisian of Odessa Regional clinical hospital for children; Larysa Torbunskaya, chief neonatology expert in the region and many others.

"Cradles of Hope" Program has been operating for one year already. During this period the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened centres in Chernihiv, Volodymyrets, Poltava, Dnipropetrovs'k, Kyiv, Ovruch, Chernivtsi, Bakhchisarai, Izmail, Odessa, Simferopil'. Similar centre will soon be opened in Donetsk. Over 16 thousand of newborns were treated within the program in partner hospitals. In 2007 516 infants were reported to have been saved due to the equipment installed by the "Cradles of Hope" program. To this end the Victor Pinchuk Foundation allocated 2 525 000 UAH (500 000 US dollars) in 2006 and 9 595 000 UAH (1 900 000 US dollars) in 2007.