Hyderabad: A study has found that the Neonatology Intensive Care Units in hospitals in and around the state capital are poorly staffed and equipped. TS has one of the highest rates of death of children under five years of age, at 32 per 1,000 live births. Having quality NICUs helps in reducing the neonatal mortality rate.
A group of doctors from Niloufer Hospital surveyed 33 NICUs in and around Hyderabad with respect to infrastructure, staffing, equipment and functional aspects. The sample included four government and 29 private hospital NICUs.
The study was led by Dr M. Suresh Babu, assistant professor at the department of paediatrics, Niloufer Hospital.
The study found that the NICUs had fewer doctors, nurses, ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure equipment per bed ratio than recommended by the National Neonatology Forum of India. The survey found that, on average one nurse was attending to two beds whereas it should ideally be one nurse for each bed.
For the 873 beds at the 33 NICUs surveyed, there were 102 fulltime doctors, half of whom had less than five years of working experience. Each doctor was responsible for close to nine beds. Including the doctors hired on temporary basis, the ratio fell to one doctor for three beds. As per norms, each doctor should have about two.
Only 203 beds fall under Level-III NICU, which have the capability to provide healthcare to most complex health issues among newborns. Most of these were located in private hospitals. Some specialty care equipment and centres like blood banks were not available in all NICUs; for example, blood bank facility was available at only eight NICUs, the study found
It was found that only a handful of NICUs were accredited by the NNF. As per the NNF website, only five of the 199 hospitals in the database were from Hyderabad.
