After spending 106 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Baby Lilian, born on 20 December 2020, has now been discharged from the Holy Family Hospital, the Order of Malta run hospital based in Bethlehem. Lilian was born at gestational age of 27 weeks weighing only 500grams. She was treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital, the only one in the whole region, where over the weeks she was able to gain strength and to grow thanks to the care of the staff of the Hospital.

Tested for Covid 19, the baby was however found positive and was immediately isolated in a special ward where she was looked after by a dedicated team for the full 14 days isolation period, after which time she tested negative. The extreme measures that were taken and the good use of the PPE’s prevented the transmission of the virus to other staff or babies. Luckily the infection did not affect baby Lilian’s slow recovery and she was finally able to leave the hospital on 5 April. “Being Pregnant during Covid 19 pandemic is a real challenge. Adding to it a baby born severely premature, we were very worried, my whole pregnancy and the three months of Lilian’s stay at the NICU were the most difficult days in my entire life” said mother of baby Lilian. “I am so grateful to the Holy Family Hospital for the medical services, the financial support and the psychological support that my daughter and I received especially at this time” the mother of Lilian concluded.

As explained by Dr Saba Abu Farha, medical doctor at the Holy Family Hospital, the emergency plan implemented after the pandemic outbreak includes training the staff on using the PPE’s, dealing with suspected patients, and how to deliver an infected baby. In addition, a triage room was implemented at the entrance of the hospital in order to examine every single person entering the hospital including the Staff themselves and a special isolated room was implemented in order to examine any patient coming with any symptoms of infection.