On account of
‘World Prematurity Day’ and to commerade the completion of 25 successful years
of NICU Manipal Hospitals unveiled patient connect programs for expectant
parents. With an aim to create awareness towards premature deliveries/ babies
the programme will educate parents and give them hands on knowledge on
precautions and care to be taken towards such babies.
Long after discharge, premature babies require special care,
follow-ups with doctors and precautionary measures to survive. In one hour long session that was
conducted at Manipal Hospitals the expectant parents were informed about how
right perspective and timely measures can help them cope better in such a
situation. Neonatologists, clinicians, nutritionists, breast feeding
consultants and psychologists spoke on the common concerns of preemies.
Importance of breast feeding was retreated to establish healthy nutrition
early. Causes, risks of pre mature pregnancies were discussed at length.
Speaking on
the occasion Dr. N.Karthik Nagesh, Chairman Neonatology and NICUs, Manipal
Hospital said, “We at Manipal
Hospitals have been at the forefront of treating such small and critically ill
babies for the last more than 25 years and many of our ‘NICU Graduates’ today
are very intelligent and productive members of the society. They are our
future. On the occasion of ‘World Prematurity Day’ we should send a strong
message to the society that Premature babies should be given a good chance as
they have excellent survival and neural development outcomes now that the
quality of care has also improved so much more in these last 2 decades.”
He further added, “Overall in India 28 million babies are born every year
and out of which 20% are born pre term/ pre mature. The problem is more
prevalent among urban population. There are multiple reasons for pre mature
delivery like maternal under nutrition, teenage pregnancies, lifestyle of women working in
corporate world who undergo stress and have a sedentary lifestyle, women with high blood pressure and
diabetes, delay in
pregnancy or postponing babies, late pregnancy and also women who undergo
assisted reproduction and have multiple pregnancies may end up having pre term
babies.”
Manipal Hospitals has handled several
cases in the past and some of them are grown up adults today. Davik
Viswanath, 22 year old (Son of Gundappa and Kavitha Vishwanath) was
born with only weight of 1 kg born at only 32 weeks. Mother’s condition during
delivery was extremely critical as it was a forced delivery. She was herself
admitted in the ICU for a week before she got a chance to see her baby who was
under the supervision of Dr. Karthik Nagesh. Baby stayed in NICU for
close to 3 months. Initially his lungs were not functioning properly as he was
facing some breathing issues. He later gained weight and was discharged when he
gained weight upto 2 kgs plus. Today he has completed law and is practicing
cricket full time and aiming to be selected for the State Cricket team.
Second case was
of now 19 year old Devaskanda who is a
miracle baby as he was only 600 grams when he was born and it further reduced
to 520 grams. He was of the size of doctor’s palm. Back in 1990 when his mother
had tried several times and lost babies at 27 weeks no one knew the reason.
Thus Devaskanda was a special baby as the parents really hoped that he
survived. His immature
lungs and heart and other body systems made him very sick. The Doctors and
Nurses worked hard on him for 4 months to help him survive through a very
stormy course in NICU. There were very few trained doctors and nurses those
days who could take care of such a tiny baby who was so small that his veins
were as thin as hair. Putting IV lines and artificial breathing tubes in him
was a great challenge. Dedication and hard work paid off and finally he went
home after 4 months. Follow up care was regularly done and often he would
fall sick in infancy. His interests are aviation and biology and is keen to
persue degree in aviation once he completes grade 12.
The third case
is of 25 year old Sanjana. She was born at 28 weeks and weighed less than a kg.She had
severe complications in intestines that had to be operated. She also had to
undergo cardiac surgeries and surgery in the eye that was damaged due to pre
maturity. She recovered and was discharged from NICU at Manipal Hospitals and
later went on to be a brilliant student in academics. She topped in her school
and finished Law from Christ University. She is now perusing her LLM in UK in
Maritime Law. She has cracked competitive exams to go abroad and study and is a
gifted child.
There are
several ways to avoid challenges of pre term pregnancy. It’s always better for Mother to be sent to a safer
delivery place or in a bigger Hospital that has a complete Neo Natal care and
well equipped set up. This is much easier and less complicated when
transporting the baby once it is born to a better Hospital which has good
facilities. Also severity of disease can be reduced through injecting anti
natal steroids to mother in order to prevent complications associated with pre
maturity/ pre term.
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