Forty per cent of births recorded at the Mother and Baby Unit of the  Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in 2019 were preterm.

Neonatologist at the facility, Dr Naana Wireko-Brobby, describes the situation as worrying.

Though the cause of the high incidents of preterm babies at the hospital is not readily known, it is common among hypertensive mothers, Dr Wireko-Brobby said.

Dr Wireko-Brobby made the revelation when she spoke to Luv  FM when local NGO, Happy Mama's Foundation, made a donation to mothers at the facility.

“If you take the number of admissions at a time on the average, we have about 130 babies on admission. Most often we have about 40 to 50 per cent of those babies on admission being premature," she revealed.

The condition often results in the death of babies.

"Even though you have quite a number of them surviving, some don’t because the earlier you are born the more complications it comes with,” she added.

When a mother delivers prematurely, most of the time it is not expected.

Often the mother is also faced with the trauma of giving birth to a premature infant.

On average, a preterm baby spends between two weeks and three months at the hospital.

Mothers oftentimes focus on accumulated bills that must be settled than their preterm babies.

Officials at KATH say some mothers abandon their babies at the facility over unsettled bills.

 “They are those who sometimes end up absconding because they stay here for a long time," says Dr Wireko-Brobby.

Happy Mama's Foundation in response to the plight of mothers of preterm babies has reached out to the MBU at KATH.

The gesture, part of a programme dubbed, "Baby Charity’ Support Program" saw the Foundation presenting assorted baby care items to affected mothers.

Founder and Chief Executive, Gloria Anthonia Amoateng, revealed how a visit to the unit informed her decision to reach out to the mothers.

“After one of my visits to the hospitals, unfortunately, some of the mothers had spent weeks and months in the hospital after delivery. And they don’t get people to come and part you at the back for a job well done,” she said.

Mrs Amoateng who is also the host of Luv FM's Luv Slow Jam is happy at the gains so far.

"We focus on Baby Charity, so everything we gather, we bring it to the mothers to bring some smile on their faces,” she added.

The group donated items including diapers, baby wipes, sanitary materials, clothes for the preterm babies who normally don’t get their cloth sizes.