07.09.2022

The Controlled Hypothermia project continues to equip perinatal centres. The hardware complex for saving newborns born with asphyxia during childbirth was donated to the Mother and Child Centre of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. This is already the fourth set of equipment, which, on behalf of the Samruk-Kazyna JSC group of companies, with the sponsorship of the Samruk-Kazyna Trust Foundation, is donated to the regions.
The Controlled Hypothermia project was initiated by AYALA Charity Foundation in 2017, when a Memorandum of Coordination of Efforts was signed with the RoK Ministry of Healthcare. During 5 years, AYALA Foundation installed 12 hypothermia units in perinatal and Research Centres of the country, 4 of them with the support of the Samruk-Kazyna Trust. Another 16 oblasts are waiting for help in equipping with this equipment.
Therapeutic hypothermia is used to save the lives and intelligence of children born with moderate to severe birth asphyxia. It shall be used in the first hours of a newborn’s life. Before the advent of the units, hypothermia was applied by improvised means — infants were covered with ice packs or cold water. Doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit had to manually maintain the low body temperature necessary to save the newborn’s central nervous system for dozens of hours. The hypothermia unit relieves this enormous load from them. It automatically maintains a precise temperature, allowing to control metabolism and cell repair in affected areas of the baby’s brain. The amplitude electroencephalography monitor helps doctors monitor and efficiently adjust the therapy used for saving and care of newborns.
“The issue of reducing child mortality is topical for Kazakhstan and the East Kazakhstan oblast. Medical equipment will help our doctors in saving, treating and rehabilitation of newborns. We thank the Samruk-Kazyna Trust and AYALA Foundation for the hypothermia unit and the amplitude electroencephalography monitor,” noted Xhaik Zhumakhanov, director of the Mother and Child Centre.
In the East Kazakhstan oblast in 2021, the infant mortality rate was 8.0 per mille. More than 9 thousand births are performed at the Mother and Child Centre annually. This medical institution provides level III perinatal care and cares for high-risk pregnant women from the city and nearby areas. In the Neonatal Intensive Care and Resuscitation Department of this centre, more than 500 premature newborns are cared for every year, and more than 1,200 babies pass through the neonatal pathology department. Last year, 41 babies received mechanical hypothermia at the Mother and Child Centre.
“Samruk-Kazyna JSC pays special attention to supporting oblast initiatives in the field of healthcare. The life of every child saved using hypothermia equipment at the Mother and Child Centre is our common victory. We hope that our doctors and future mothers of the city and the entire oblast will be happy with this new equipment,” noted Gulzhan Rakhimbaeva, director of the East Kazakhstan oblast branch of Kazpost JSC.
The joint project of the Samruk-Kazyna Trust and AYALA Foundation Controlled Hypothermia started in 2020. Over two years, it will provide six Oblast Perinatal Centres with medical intensive care equipment.
Earlier, with the support of the Samruk-Kazyna Trust Foundation, equipment for automatic hypothermia was installed in the Perinatal block of the Oblast Multidisciplinary Hospital of the Karaganda oblast, in the Oblast Perinatal Centres in the cities of Taldykorgan and Aktau. By the end of September 2022, AYALA Charity Foundation will donate another hypothermia hardware complex to the Uralsk and Shymkent Perinatal Centres.
From 2017, the total of lof 224 newborns were saved using equipment installed by AYALA Foundation in 12 cities of Kazakhstan.
“Our Foundation considers helping the state in reducing childhood disability its main objective. Currently, about 100 thousand children from birth to 18 years of age are on disability in Kazakhstan, which is the population of a small town. Saving a child’s life is an incredibly difficult task. However, for the future of our country, it is critical to keep the newborn functionally healthy. Therefore, we provide children’s intensive care units with such equipment and nursing technologies that help reduce childhood disability from birth. We are very grateful to the Samruk Kazyna Trust for their assistance,” stressed Aidan Suleimenova, President of AYALA Charity Foundation.