KL Report
Srinagar
The G.B. Pant Hospital, Srinagar which was in news in year 2012, for increasing neonatal mortality has started a surfactant replacement therapy for the newborn babies having respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) due to prematurity.
As per the hospital management, G B Panth hospital is the first hospital in country to provide surfactants free of cost to newborn babies.
“Prematurity is a major contributor to burden of disease and death in our country and respiratory distress syndrome, a condition reported to be in 6.8-14.1% of preterm live births, is the major cause of death in preterm babies. Thus there is a great need to decrease mortality and morbidity from respiratory distress syndrome among preterm babies. World-wide evidence suggests that surfactant replacement therapy and CPAP have significantly decreased mortality and morbidity in infants with RDS. As we have already put in place bubble CPAP in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) six months back, providing surfactants shall further reduce morbidity and death of preterm babies referred and admitted in G.B. Pant Hospital, Srinagar”, said Dr. Muneer Ahmad Masoodi, medical superintendent G.B. Pant Hospital, Srinagar.
Dr Muneer also said that a large proportion of our population is not able to avail surfactant therapy even though it was included in the WHO Essential Drug List. So these expensive medicines are being provided free of cost to neonates under Janani Shishu Surakhsha Karikram (JSSK) scheme of NRHM.
As per a statement, MS of the hospital further said that the mothers at risk of delivering babies with less than 34 weeks (8 months) pregnancy should be given antenatal steroids. And for the infants who deliver at less than 29 weeks gestation outside of a tertiary centre should be considered for immediate intubation followed by surfactant administration after stabilization.
