Wednesday, 6 September 2023

Neonatal Care

Neo’ is new and ‘nat’ is a ‘gift of God’. A neonate is therefore a New Gift of God given to a mother at the time of delivery. Essentially, the gift is meant for the whole family and not just the mother or the couple alone. In technical terms, the word 'neonatal' means newborn, or the first 28 days of life. This is also the time which determines the subsequent health and growth of the newborn. Neonatal care to provide care for babies soon after they are born therefore is highly important. It becomes even more critical if a baby is born premature or sick for any reason.

A newborn baby who is very likely to develop a severe acute disease or an adverse outcome is categorized as "high-risk newborn". This is usually identified on the basis of Apgar score which describes the condition of the newborn infant immediately after birth. Apgar score is used for standardized assessment of baby's heart rate, muscle tone, and other signs to see if the newborn needs neonatal care (i.e. extra medical care or emergency care). Score of 0, 1, or 2 is given for each of the following five parameters: colour, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone and  respiration. Apgar score is assessed at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth. A high score of 7, 8, or 9 indicates that the newborn is in good health and carries a good progress.

Neonatal care requires diligence and caution even more than both experience and experience of the staff.  Cleanliness is the key to good care. Sick children in particular require round-the-clock care for the basic needs. Each small step is a kind of well-rehearsed and expert action for the nurse – Feeding, cleaning, changing diapers and bathing the baby. More sick neonates may need resuscitation. Warmth is provided by placing the infant under a radiant heat source. It is important to keep the airways open by positioning the head in a 'sniffing' position and clearing the airway with a suction catheter.

The Neonatal Care unit at your best infertility centre in the town provides essential care with utmost expertise and involvement. It undertakes different services with top-class quality and standards.


Wednesday, 28 June 2023

IVF - Transparency

In the past, there had been mushrooming of IVF-centers in India, which required the government of India to regulate and supervise the treatment in the overall interest of the patients. Undoubtedly, minimum levels of standards are required for any such treatment involving advanced technology with wider emotional, social, ethical and legal implications. Not infrequently, the conflicts related to IVF-outcomes raise inter-country and international disputes.

There is a common perception (or misconception) about lack of transparency in medical procedures in India such as the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). It is for this purpose that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Department of Health Research) Government of India, enacted the ART-Act (for Assisted Reproduction Technology) in December 2021. The Act imparts several obligations on the part of the ART centers doing IVF treatment. Most importantly, the Act envisages transparency with relation to the procedure. It envisages the ART team to provide the following:

  • Professional counselling to commissioning couple and the woman about all the implications and chances of success of assisted reproductive technology procedures in the clinic;
  • Inform the commissioning couple and woman of the advantages,
  • dis advantages and cost of the procedures, their medical side-Effects and  risks including the risk of multiple pregnancy; 
  • Help the commissioning couple or woman to arrive at an informed decision on such matters that would most likely be the best for the commissioning couple;
  • To make commissioning couple or woman, aware of the rights of a child born through the use of assisted technology.

It is also expected that the clinics shall issue to the commissioning couple or woman a discharge certificate stating details of the assisted reproductive technology procedure performed on the commissioning couple or woman. ART law mandates discharge of all information to the patients which includes records on details of the procedure, the details of the IVF medicines used, number of follicles, eggs, embryos, embryo quality, number and quality of embryos transferred and frozen. 

The ART Act requirements have put significant burden on the part of the centers and the doctors, who normally are seen as poor record-keepers in spite of doing their best for the patients. But there is no alternative and the patients’ rights are required to be taken care of in accordance with the law of the land.  We, at your best IVF center of the town at Jindal IVF respect the patient’s rights and meticulously follow all the details. Record-keeping requires to be inculcated as a routine habit. It becomes an automatic action once the habit gets ingrained in the minds of the people of any ART center.