Bengaluru: In all honours, 40 preterm babies of the city, with their convocation caps on, were conferred with ‘graduation certificates’ in a bid to celebrate their success of retrieving serious complications, to face the world outside Neonatal ICU (NICU).
India’s first pediatric super specialty hospital, Rainbow Children’s hospital celebrated World Prematurity Day 2017 today, with this memorable ‘NICU University Graduation Ceremony.’ Families of the preterm babies along with several expectant mothers with their families from different parts of the state, participated in the event which was held to create awareness on preterm births and the expert care they deserve.
Tripti Rao Mrs. India, 2017 graced the event along with Mr. Neeraj Lal, Cluster Head-Bangalore Operation, Rainbow Children’s Hospital and other senior management officials of the hospital including Dr. Vijay Aggarwal, Medical Director, Dr. Kavitha Kovi, Consultant in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Dr. Rajath Athreya, Neonatologist and Pediatrician.
One in every 10th child born in the world is premature. While premature birth is known to be the leading cause of death among children under five worldwide, little is discussed to curb the increase of these numbers. Due to the lack of access to the proper medical care for disadvantaged, many children face death or complications after the preterm birth. In the wake of this, Rainbow Children’s Hospital conducted a health talk on the tests expectant mothers should undergo and the best care to be provided to premature babies. Leading lactation experts guided new mothers on breastfeeding the preemies.
The hospital is known for its Neonatal Retrieval services for mother and babies, a lifesaving intervention provided by the hospital’s expert team of neonatal intensivists within the ambulance, even before they reach the ICU. This service which is available within 300 km of the hospital is offered by very few pediatric hospitals in India. Dr. Rajath Athreya, Neonatologist and Pediatrician said, “It has been witnessed that premature birth or low birth weight mortality has been rising drastically in rural areas, compared to urban areas. Majority of the deliveries in rural areas still occurs in home or in places where there are limited resources, leading to the need to arrange transportation of the infant to well-equipped hospitals in real time.”
Neeraj Lal, Cluster Head-Bangalore Operation, Rainbow Children’s Hospital, added, “The aim of Rainbow Children’s Hospital is to provide high standards of care for the mother, fetus, newborn and children so that none of them is deprived of an intensive care facility. Equipped with the most advanced technology available in the country along with the backing of an expert team of neonatologists and pediatricians, we have been able to rescue infants as young as 5 months in our NICU.”
Post the panel discussion, Rainbow Children’s Hospital conducted a NICU University Graduation ceremony, which is the first of its kind initiative by any pediatric hospital. Preterm babies, who fought serious medical complications to successfully retrieve from the NICU of Rainbow Children’s Hospital, were conferred with NICU Graduation Certificates.
Complimentary scans were arranged for expectant mothers and health cards given to families of preterm babies who attended the gathering.
