17 August 2013
Hyderabad
Dr. Bhupendra Avasthi promoted Surya Child Care’s inaugurated at the hands of popular and publicly acclaimed film star “Kajol” and dedicated to the service of the people of Mumbai on the 15th of August 2013. This addition of the new NICU will make Surya Child Care one of the largest Kajol 300x218 Kajol Devgan launched the Surya Child Cares high end state of art level 3 Neonatal ICUfacility handling Neonatal care in this entire western region.
The estimated number of births in our country is approximately 24489000 per year. Out of these 33% of infants are low birth weight (i.e. weighing less than 2.5 kg) India witnesses more than one million neonatal deaths every year. India has more neonatal deaths than any other country. Maharashtra unfortunately is no -2 in percentages of infant deaths in neonatal period. In Mumbai particularly it forms 2/3rd of infant mortality.
Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants (first 28 days of life is called neonatal period), especially the ill or premature newborn infant. It is a hospital based speciality and is usually practiced in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). There is a growing demand for care of premature babies in our country as the rate of premature delivery is one of the highest in the world (around 13% of all births). In addition, the mortality and morbidity rates in premature infants are highest amongst the world. These rates of mortality continue to remain unacceptably high in India because of lack of optimal and quality medical care facilities for care of sick and premature infants. Overall, total number of deaths occurring from birth to first 28 days of life (Neonatal Mortality) is 30-35 per thousand. This reflects the poor healthcare of any country on health index. Our index is at least about 5 to 10 times more than any developed country. Important reasons for these deaths are asphyxia, prematurity and infections. To embark upon this enormous problem plaguing our country, quality neonatal units are the need of hour.
Mumbai has probably 250 neonatal beds spread across the city for approximately 1, 65, 000 births taking place every month/ year. What happens almost every day in every city / town is that babies requiring neonatal units are turned away from Government/ Municipal/ Private hospitals as there are no beds or ventilators available. These issues contribute in increasing the morbidity and mortality of young infants.
Surya Children’s Hospital was started by Dr B.S. Avasthi in 1983with a vision to provide quality neonatal care. It was the first NICU (Level 3) in private sector in city of Mumbai. Over a period of 30 years, Surya Children’s Hospital has increased its NICU bed strength to 65. Today it is the largest and one of the best equipped Level 3 NICUs in the country.
The Surya Children’s Hospital is also a recognized teaching hospital by, National Board of Examinations, Government of India, for Post Graduate studies. There are 4 seats in Pediatrics for the last 8 years. This institute is one of the very few centers in India to be recognized for super-specialization in Neonatology. It also has 4 fellowship programmes (recognized by Indian Academy of Pediatrics and National Neonatology Forum). The aim is to provide adequate and good quality facilities for maximum number of newborns born in Mumbai and eventually at all other cities/towns that we can cater to.
It was the first hospital to introduce concept of neonatal ambulance (NICU on wheels), completely equipped with all equipment including incubator, ventilator, dry chemistry analyses etc & a dedicated neonatal transport team. We have transported more than 20,000/- newborn in the last 2 decades which enabled us to help in saving thousands of babies.
Our vision is to provide quality neonatal care to the maximum possible number of newborns. We also want to train doctors and paramedic staff in neonatology and also spread awareness in general population regarding care of newborns. We would also like others to follow the lead and help us in bringing down the neonatal morbidity and mortality. The Surya Children’s Hospital is planning to add at least 100 more neonatal beds in other cities over next two years so that a precious life is not deprived of its right to live.
