Losses of sick babies feared

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 9

Losses of sick babies feared

PA Hamilton A .chronic national shortage of room for babies needing intensive care could lead to a disaster, according to Waikato Hospital’s paediatrician-in-charge, Dr Tony Cull. Hospitals throughout New Zealand were overfilled with babies in their neo-natal units, mostly premature and sick babies. Waikato Hospital had 10 babies in the intensivecare unit for babies, nine being on life-support systems, he said. Last Friday, neo-natal staff telephoned hospitals throughout New Zealand in search of other beds for some of them as the unit was finding it difficult to cope. However, no other hospital could take them. Dr Cull said that if more premature babies were born soon he did not know where they could

go. “We are looking at a disaster or a tragedy in the next year. Some terrible things could happen,” he said. Pressure had spread since Auckland’s neo-natal unit reached capacity. Dr Cull said that unit had 16 or 17 intensive-care babies, but was designed to cope with 10. Waikato Hospital had taken one baby from Auckland and one from Northland, but as Auckland had one Hamilton baby, the exchange was even at the moment. In the past when one hospital had overfilled with babies needing intensive care, they had been transferred to another city. Waikato previously had sent babies to Auckland and Wellington. Now that no room was available anywhere, each hospital would have to cope with its own babies, Dr Cull said.