Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Debrecen University Clinical Centre, 2020

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Every year the Robert Burns International Foundation encourages small and medium-sized businesses to get involved in our charity work by means of the SME Sponsorship Scheme.

Running for several years now, this scheme enables companies to make targeted donations to specific projects helping sick and underprivileged children around the country. All donations are doubled by the RBIF to really make a difference to the project in question. What is more, the sponsor in question can choose which part of the country they wish to support.

WhiskyNet need no introduction to those who are familiar with the Annual Budapest Burns Supper. A long-standing and successful company ensuring Hungary is well supplied with the finest whiskies that Scotland and the world has to offer, not to mention a fine supply of gins and rums, the owners Zsolt and Kati contacted the RBIF in early 2020 with their intention to join the SME Sponsorship Scheme. After identifying eastern Hungary as their preferred area, and following the advice of our medical adviser Prof. György Fekete, we settled on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Debrecen University Clinical Centre.

Discussions with Head Physician Tamás Kovács resulted in the choice of equipment being a Novos Bililed Maxi device, which is used for the phototherapy treatment of jaundice in newborn babies.

Jaundice is a common phenomenon in the days immediately after birth; it is generally mild, and soon passes by itself. However, high levels of bilirubin in the blood can cause the jaundice to more pronounced, leading to drowsiness, eating difficulties and therefore dehydration. In some cases jaundice can be a symptom of more extreme underlying diseases, which in turn can cause brain damage and/or require blood transfusions.

Head Physician Tamás Kovács:

This device purchased with the help of the Robert Burns International Foundation is very effective and can be used continuously. It converts the bilirubin in the skin making it easier to travel harmlessly through the body. It helps newborns and premature babies to overcome their jaundice more quickly, and in serious cases to avoid risky blood transfusions, and we could not have purchased it without the help of the RBIF.