UNICEF boosts healthcare for mothers and children

UNICEF handed over an 'Obstetric Intensive Care Unit' to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital enabling improved healthcare for children and pregnant mothers.

This investment is the latest in a series of UNICEF Sri Lanka investments in maternal and child healthcare facilities totalling more than Rs 154 million.

UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative Philippe Duamelle said: "In partnership with the Sri Lankan Government, we want to restore basic services for all those rebuilding their lives after the conflict.

This means ensuring all pregnant women, including those in the more remote areas, have access to decent healthcare." This investment in the Jaffna hospital will benefit 10,000 pregnant women each year, many of whom are referred needing care during complicated or at-risk pregnancies and would previously have had to travel long distances to gain access to specialised care.

The equipping and refurbishment of the intensive care unit included the provision of patient monitors, ward trolleys, pulse monitors, a defibrillator, sterilising and cold chain equipment, blood pressure instruments and office equipment for consultations.