World Class Neonatal Care at affordable cost!

The renovated centrally air conditioned neonatal unit with state of the art facilities was inaugurated near the delivery suites on 13/10/2011. The new unit has adequate space, controlled access, nominated sterile areas, uninterrupted power supply, efficient medical gas distribution systems and modern medical infrastructure in an environment that is sensitive to the needs of the baby and the family.

Facilities exists in the unit for providing the safest critical care to the premature babies including the ELBWs (extremely low birth weight babies weighing less than 1000 gms) and those newborns with a wide variety of complex medical, cardiac and surgical problems. The unit has a heavy occupancy rate of 98% in level III beds and 96% in level II beds throughout the year.

Infrastructure

The unit is constructed scientifically as per the current recommendations and follows incubator care for extreme preterm infants and open care system with state of the art radiant warmers for the other babies.

The unit has bed strength of 75 as detailed below:

Level IIIB Neonatal Intensive Care Unit- 12 ventilated beds

Level IIIA Neonatal Intensive Care Unit- high dependency care - 8 beds

Level IIB Special Care Baby Unit- intermediate dependency care - 16 beds

Level IIA Special Care Baby Unit - low dependency care - 14 beds

Caring hands for the tiny ones!

The unit is run by a team of neonatologists and Pediatricians under the leadership of Dr V C Manoj, well supported by Neonatal Registrars, Fellowship Trainees, paediatric post graduate residents and senior nursing staff trained in neonatal care. The unit has 1:1 nurse patient ratio in the level III section and comparable staff strength in the other three sections. The unit seeks to continuously improve the quality of care by using evidence-based treatment and regular audit of health outcomes.

Patient Care

The following state of art services are offered currently in the unit:

• Advanced Neonatal intensive care

  The unit has state of the art intensive care facilities inclusive of:

  • High-frequency ventilation (HFO)- using One Drager VN 500 and three SLE 5000 TTV plus ventilators.
  • Neonatal Volume Ventilation.
  • Conventional mechanical ventilation.
  • Non Invasive Ventilation.
  • High Flow Therapy.
  • Surfactant replacement therapy.
  • Therapeutic Hypothermia for Perinatal Asphyxia using MiraCradle PCM Mattresses
  • Neonatal Total Parenteral Nutrition with lamellar flow facility.
  • Neurosonography.
  • Neonatal echocardiography.
  • Surgical correction of neonatal conditions like congenital diaphragmatic hernia and pre and post operative care for neonatal surgery.
  
  
• Perinatal Care
  • Prenatal consultation and counselling for parents.
  • Fetal medicine services.
  • Genetic counselling.
  • Attendance at all deliveries including high-risk or potentially complicated deliveries


• Transport

  Neonatal transport facilities in the department include Transport incubators and T piece resuscitators. Ambulance service is also available for retrieval of outborn babies.

• Other Services
  • Comprehensive management of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia warranting intensive phototherapy and exchange blood transfusion.
  • Bed side Early Intervention Program for neuro development of High Risk newborns (once they are haemodynamically stable).
  • Lactation Counselling, Breastfeeding support and Kangaroo Mother Care Support by doctors, lactation counsellors and nurses.
  • 24-hour consultation and advice on neonatal problems to paediatricians in the periphery.


• Newborn Screening Programs

  The Following Screening Programs are carried out in the department:

  • Universal Clinical screening for anomalies.
  • Universal Pulse Oximetry Screening for Congenital Heart Disease
  • Universal Newborn Hearing Screen by OAE Test.
  • Universal Thyroid screening programme.
  • Metabolic, Endocrine and Genetic Screening by TMS and GCMS
  • Preterm Screening Program for Retinopathy of Prematurity.
  • Preterm Neuroimaging Program, Functional Echocardiography Screening, etc


• Newborn OP Clinics

  The department has a well designed follow up program

  • Well Baby and Immunisation Clinics: 8 am - 2 pm (Daily), 2nd Floor, St Thomas Block
  • Neonatal follow-up clinic: 11 am - 2 pm (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday), 2nd Floor, St Thomas Block
  • High Risk Clinic: 11 am - 2 pm (Tuesday, Friday), 2nd Floor, St Thomas Block
  • Early Intervention and Neurodevelopmental Clinic: 11 am - 2 pm (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday), 2nd Floor, St Thomas Block
  • Neonatal cardiology clinic: Daily (by appointment at Hrudayalaya block)
  • Neonatal Surgery clinic: 11 am - 1 pm (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), 2nd Floor, St Thomas Block
  • Emergency Services: Emergency cases are seen round the clock at the Emergency Medicine Dept by the Neonatology Registrar / Fellowship Trainee
  • Tele Medicine: Consultation facility over phone is available round the clock for newborn emergencies through hospital telephone exchange.

Faculty

Sl.No	Name	Designation	Qualification	Date of Joining
1	Dr. Nelby George Mathew	Assistant Professor	MBBS, MD, DM	01 June 2024

Neonatal Education

The Department runs the following accredited training Courses in Neonatology

• Post Doctoral Fellowship in Neonatology
  Well Structured and accredited Post Graduate NNF fellowship and IAP fellowship Courses for Paediatricians (4 Seats per year)
• Neonatal Nursing Fellowship
  Well Structured and accredited NNF Nursing fellowship for qualified Nurses (2 Seats per year)

The highlight of both these Fellowship Courses is the organized teaching program including monthly guest lectures and thrice a week seminars, journal clubs, lectures and demonstrations, in addition to adequate practical exposure that enable the candidates to subsequently manage Level III care successfully on their own.

No	Course	No. of Seats	Classes Commencing on	Course duration and Eligibility
1	IAP Fellowship	2	01 January every Year	12 months for MD/DNB (Pediatrics) and 18 Months for DCH
2	NNF Fellowship	2	01 March every Year	12 months for MD/DNB (Pediatrics) and 18 Months for DCH
3	NNF Nursing Fellowship	2	01 March every Year	12 Months for B.Sc. & 18 months for GNM

• Neonatology Training for Post Graduate trainees from the Department of Pediatrics
• Neonatal Orientation Course for Post Graduate trainees from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Transfusion Medicine & Emergency Medicine.
• Neonatal Resuscitation Programme (NRP) provider and instructor courses for doctors and Nurses

Continuing Medical Education Program

The department conducts periodic CME Programs to update the doctors and Nurses on the Recent Advances in the field of Neonatology.

The following is the list of major programs conducted so far primarily by the department:

• Jubilee Neocon 2012: One day workshop for nurses on Neonatal Nursing Care and One day CME for Paediatricians on Neonatal Emergencies (10&11 March 2012)
• Kerala Neocon 2013: Annual State Conf of National Neonatology Kerala Chapter (16&17 Feb 2013)
• NNF Kerala Workshop on Therapeutic Hypothermia in Perinatal Asphyxia (01 Dec 2013)
• Advanced NRP Training Course by IAP AAP NRPFGMP (May 2014)
• South Pedicon Workshop on “Neonatal Emergencies” (14 Nov 2014)
• South Zonal IAP Neocon 2015: South India Zonal Neonatal Conference on “Recent Advances in Preterm Care” (09 & 10 May 2015)

Neonatal Research

Continuous evolution of treatment modalities in Neonatology makes the management of sick neonates a challenging task in the present era and mandates the need for continuous research. The department undertakes various research projects in Neonatology and Perinatology from time to time. The Current research Projects undertaken by the Department include:

• Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Antenatal Administration of Magnesium Sulphate on the one year Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Preterm Infants born at less than 34 weeks period of gestation
• Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Milking of the Cord on the one year Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Preterm Infants born at less than 32 weeks period of gestation
• IAP Neonatology Chapter Survey on Potential Best Practises in Respiratory Care and Nutrition in Preterm Infants
• Various MD Dissertations in Neonatology of PG students, Kerala University of Health Sciences and DNB students for DNB (Pediatrics)

Our Vision

• Research: In the future, we aim to establish a neonatal network and collaborate with other tertiary neonatal centres in the state to build a world class neonatal research facility in the state.
• Innovations: In order to reduce the cost of treatment and make it more affordable to the common man, we aim to develop safe and scientifically proven low cost innovative systems and protocols in neonatal intensive care.
• Neonatal Transport: We intend to develop a safe neonatal transport system with transport neonatal ventilator, facility for cooling on transport for asphyxiated babies, trained personnel for pre transport stabilisation, etc for retrieval of small and sick babies from the peripheral centres where treatment facilities are not available.
• Up gradation: We also aim to upgrade the treatment facilities in our centre as and when newer modalities of treatment become available in our country.