SUM Hospital gives new lease of life to 25-week-old pre-term baby born weighing 560 gms

Bhubaneswar: Pediatricians at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital have been able to battle heavy odds to save the life of a premature baby boy who weighed just 560 grams at birth.

The baby, conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), was born through Caesarean Section after 25 completed weeks and the low weight caused its condition to turn critical.

“We put the baby in invasive ventilation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit immediately for a prolonged period as it developed all complications of pre-mature birth,” Dr Debasish Nanda, Head of Department of Neonatology in the hospital said.

The baby was put on non-invasive ventilation for almost four months as survival of such babies was less than 50 percent, he said adding “it was great that we could save the life of the baby through continuous effort.”

Besides Dr Nanda, a team of neonatologists treated the baby and took great care of the boy.

As per a media report in The Statesman, Dr Pusparaj Samantasinhar, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, extended all necessary technical and logistic support which went a long way in successfully treating the baby, Dr Nanda said adding the parents of the baby were extremely delighted at the recovery of their child and thanked the hospital.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that around 25 percent of the 60 to 80 million couples suffering from infertility every year worldwide lived in India while one in every four couples in developing countries was affected by infertility. Infertility, which affects approximately 15 per cent of Indian couples, is viewed as a major problem with far-reaching consequences, Prof. (Dr) Sujata Pradhan, Professor and Head of Center for Human Reproduction (CHR ) at the SUM Hospital here said while speaking at a function organised here to mark the World IVF Day.