Indore : Concerning over alarming rise in infant mortality, the State Government has decided to develop maiden Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) unit in Chacha Nehru Hospital through which premature babies will get natural care.
The unit is being established under the National Health Mission by the District Health Department and the MGM Medical College administration.
Joint-Director (Health) Dr Sharad Pandit said, “The Infant Mortality Rate in Indore is 39 while the state’s figure is 54. We have set a target to bring down the figure to 15 in the division by 2018.”
He said that the government had been providing funds to Chacha Nehru Hospital for developing the state’s first of its kind unit for mother and child care.
Informing about KMC, he said, “The term Kangaroo Mother Care is derived from practical similarities to marsupial care-giving, i.e premature infant is kept warm in the maternal pouch and close to the breasts for unlimited feeding.”
He added that it is a gentle and effective method in comparison to chaos witnessed in a busy ward with pre-term babies. An important mainstay of kangaroo mother care is breastfeeding encouragement.
However, the unit was initially proposed to be established in the District Hospital but due to renovation work in the hospital is pending the first KMC unit will be established in Chacha Nehru Hospital.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Chacha Nehru Hospital Dr Sharad Thora said that establishment of the ward has been started and it will be opened by the end of January.
“We are converting one of our wards as Kangaroo Mother Care Unit and will also provide healthy diet to the mothers as well,” he said.
What is KMC?
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a special way of taking care of low birth weight babies. It helps their health and well being by promoting effective thermal control, breastfeeding, infection prevention and bonding. In KMC, the baby is continuously kept in skin-to-skin contact by the mother and breastfed exclusively to the utmost extent, the KMC is initiated in the hospital and continued at home.
Benefits of KMC are regular heart rate, breathing and temperature in infants, improved head circumference growth and weight gain, stabilizes their organ function and self-regulation abilities and others.
