Within the next month, a small philanthropic organisation established by Barbadian gynaecologist Dr Sylvester Brathwaite and his American-born wife, Carla, will donate $60 000 in equipment to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's (QEH) neo-natal clinic.

Dr Brathwaite said they recently launched The Making Barbados Better Foundation as a way to "give back something to the country which has given me so much".

As an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Barbados before he pulled up stakes and established a lucrative practice in Florida, Brathwaite delivered more than 1 000 babies and saw many premature ones suffer and often die.

"We created the foundation with the help of the National Heritage Foundation in the United States," he said.

"And our first project for the Making Barbados Better Foundation is the provision of two sets of the equipment for the neo-natal unit at the QEH.

"We are excited about this venture which should help save the premature babies," he told the DAILY NATION from Boston.

The Brathwaites donated US$12 000 to the foundation and so far they have raised an additional US$11 000 through individual donations, leaving them US$7 000 short.

"We have great faith in ourselves, our ability, in God and in our fellow Bajans that we are going to come through and have that equipment in the next 30 days," he said.