BHUBANESWAR: Doctors described her as a ‘fighter’ and her survival as a medical sensation. Born in the 26th week, Saikrishna is one of the lowest underweight premature babies in the country to have survived without having any serious physical conditions, thanks to the newborn care facilities at the Capital Hospital.She was weighing only 590 gms at birth and too small to fit in the palms. She has been discharged after being kept for 54 days in the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU). Now five-month-old, the baby is hale and hearty and doing fine.
Saikrishna’s 26-year-old mother Jharana Baliarsing said the baby is simply invaluable for the family as she had suffered a miscarriage during her first pregnancy in 2015. The baby was so special to the doctors and nurses that they didn’t mind working overtime for her.A resident of Girigiria village under Bolagarh block of Khurda district, Jharana had in fact delivered twin daughters at a private nursing home in Khurda. The first one did not survive. As they were born premature and underweight, the nursing home referred her to Capital Hospital.
“Initially, the nursing home doctors had lost hope. But I was keeping my hopes alive. The doctors at Capital Hospital too advised us to take the baby to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. But when we expressed helplessness, they agreed to admit her. Their days long labour paid of and my daughter survived. The doctors here are like God for me,” said Jharana.
Doctors said to save a baby of this size was challenging. Since such infants develop serious neuro developmental disability such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, hearing loss, visual impairment and epilepsy, they treated it as a special case.
“Generally, we do not admit babies below 1.5 kg in the SNCU. But when the family expressed their inability to shift, we decided to treat. We focused mostly on thermal care, nutrition support, infection prevention, management of complicacies and follow-up treatment. The baby was also provided Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) which helped her improve health conditions,” said treating doctor Lingaraj Pradhan.
The family was also provided emotional support through rigorous counselling by the medical team. The doctors have made it possible even without the support of ventilator. Though there has been no record, but this is perhaps the first lowest underweight premature baby who has survived after being treated at a State-run hospital.
In fact, the SNCU in Capital Hospital has been adjudged as one of the best neonatal care units in Eastern India by the National Neonatology Forum (NNF). It has successfully treated 2,339 sick babies, including 301 premature in the last two years.Director of State Institute of Health and Family Welfare Dr Saroj Kumar Nayak said Odisha has been successful is developing a system to reduce infant mortality rate. “While 30 SNCUs and 736 Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs) are now functioning in the State, 11 more SNCUs will be opened soon. With Norway-India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) and support of Unicef, we have been successful in containing death of newborn,” he added.