The State will get four centres of excellence to prevent neonatal deaths. They will come up at Mangalore, Bangalore, Koppal and Bellary.
At Mangalore, the Regional Advanced Paediatric Care Centre (RAPCC) of the Government Wenlock Hospital will be developed into a centre of excellence on the lines of Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Bangalore to provide quality care for preventing neonatal deaths, said Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader. In Bangalore the Bowring Hospital would be developed as a centre of excellence.
Inaugurating the State Neonatology Conference here on Saturday, Mr. Khader said these ‘Centres for excellence’ are being set up to prevent neonatal deaths, which has been an area of concern.
Mr. Khader said the State Government was also setting up one high-risk delivery centre for every 10 primary health centres. Pregnant women should get access to quality care during high risk births which prevents deaths. “We are serious on bringing down infant morality and maternal mortality rate, which is the health indicator of the state.”
Director of Health and Family Welfare H.C. Ramesh said with upgraded RAPCC, three other centres will have special neonatal care units and also paediatric surgery units. Additional nurses will also be posted. These centres will be providing care in case of premature delivery, under weight babies and preterm deliveries.
