Exclusive clinic to be born in Sishu Bhawan

CUTTACK: The Sardar Vallavbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Pediatrics (SVPPGIP), better known as Sishu Bhawan, is set to open a High Risk Clinic, an exclusive out patient department for newborns with problems at birth and those with congenital defects. The first-of-its-kind unit in any medical setup in the State, it will focus on follow-up treatment and special needs of the newborns who have been discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital. They will be taken care of through infancy to childhood in a bid to defuse chances of complications and morbidity.The Health and Family Welfare Department has given the go ahead for the novel initiative and prescribed the functionality of the unit. The High Risk Clinic (HRC) would function under Associate Prof Dr Pravakar Mishra on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 am to 12 noon.Initially one post-graduate student and a data entry operator will assist Dr Mishra and gradually it will be strengthened with more staff from requisite fields. Status reports would be submitted to the Government every month.It will come as a boon for premature and low birth weight babies and infants suffering from birth asphyxia along with other serious neonatal illnesses who had to be admitted and treated at the NICU before being discharged. “These children need special attention, care and treatment through the initial years of their life as their vital faculties are compromised, vulnerable and underdeveloped. All aspects from their growth, physical and mental development, sensory and neuromotor abilities have to be continuously assessed and injected with appropriate interventions,” Dr Mishra said. At present these neonates and infants are forced to attend the general OPDs amidst the heavy crowd. The wait for consultations notwithstanding, the children are exposed to risks of infections from general patients.The unit would have a multidisciplinary approach to high risk newborn management. Along with assessment and treatment of the babies, the parents will also be counselled and trained on proper management and handling of the children. They will be educated on recognising vital signs of complications or any problems in the child be it hearing, sight or difficulties in walking and moving at an early stage, Superintendent of SVPPGIP Prof HK Mohanty said.A protocol has been finalised for handling  such cases. Training is being imparted to PG students on taking part in HRC. The hospital has a nine-bed NICU and 25-bed newborn ward.