The Vodafone Foundation has endowed nine neonatology wards and neonatal intensive care units across Romania with medical equipment and related devices worth over 2.1 million lei, in the third phase of the national program Life for Newborns Fund.
A total of 93 pieces of medical devices and furniture units were purchased and then donated, and 3 telemedicine systems were installed. The nine neonatal intensive care units and neonatology wards benefiting from the program are located at CF2 Bucharest Clinical Hospital, Nicolae Malaxa Clinical Hospital, Buftea Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, "Dr. Pop Mircea" Marghita Municipal Hospital, Miercurea Ciuc County Emergency Hospital, Piatra Neamț County Emergency Hospital, Sebeș Municipal Hospital, Slobozia County Emergency Hospital, and Vâlcea County Emergency Hospital. Among the most important equipment requested by doctors are: resuscitation tables, invasive ventilators, vital signs monitors, resuscitation neopuffs, non-invasive bilirubinometers, pulse oximeters, syringe pumps, laminar flow hoods, hearing testing devices, but also medical furniture such as cribs for newborns, medicine cabinets or medication trolleys. The total investment in the nine medical units was 2,135,000 lei, with eight months implementation period.
“We estimate that following this investment, over 9,000 newborns delivered annually in the nine wards will benefit from improved quality care and treatment or from optimal transfer to a higher level facility, when need it. At the same time, the 180 doctors, along with the rest of the medical staff in these wards, will have better working conditions, having modern and high-performance equipment that can sometimes make the difference between life and death. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have donated and are donating for this program, the over 4,000 individual donors and the companies Premier Restaurants Romania, Evotracking and the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania)”, declared Angela Galeța, director of the Vodafone Foundation in Romania.
The Vodafone Foundation began investing in neonatology 10 years ago, when the infant mortality rate in Romania was almost 10‰. Currently, thanks to the efforts made together with other organizations, infant mortality has dropped to 6.4* per 1,000 live births (*source).However, these number still represents a double rate than the European average. One of the reasons is that only 9% of the neonatology units in our country are endowed with all the necessary equipment to take proper care of premature or seriously ill newborns. These well equipped 25 units are all located in 14 major cities in Romania. The remaining wards are in acute need of new medical devices.
The mission of the Life for Newborn Fund is to ensure equal access to quality medical services for as many children as possible, regardless of where they are born. In the previous phases of the program, carried out between 2021 and 2023, ten wards of neonatology and intensive care units of level I and II from: Slatina, Craiova, Mediaș, Caransebeș, Târgu Mureș, Botoșani, Câmpulung Muscel, Luduș, Moldova Nouă and Cluj received modern medical equipment and highly specialized devices. Separately from this endowment component, the Vodafone Foundation financed the installation of telemedicine solutions in 23 level I, II and III neonatology wards and NICUs, which were integrated into the national network. There are currently 34 wards connected to the national neonatal telemedicine network in Romania.
About Vodafone Romania Foundation
For the past 27 years, we have been pooling our resources and those of our partners to build inclusive and sustainable projects together. We leverage technology and social innovation, investing around 2 million euros annually in the development of disadvantaged communities in Romania. We modernize neonatal intensive care units and support digital education programs that prepare children and young people for the jobs of the future. Together with other Vodafone foundations around the world, our goal is to improve the lives of 400 million people by 2025.
We are a Romanian NGO established in 1998, with charitable status, distinct and independent from the commercial operations of Vodafone Romania.
