Ophthalmology specialists will screen all premature babies born in the hospital within a month of their birth and will extend appropriate treatment to the babies identified with retinopathy and related diseases.
Aravind Eye Care System, which funds the service, will extend specialised treatment for the needy babies at the Aravind Eye Hospitals. Director (health and family welfare) KV Raman and the Aravind Eye Hospitals chief medical officer R Venkatesh signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard in the presence of chief minister N Rangasamy on August 8.
The service will be reviewed periodically and reports on the eye care of premature babies will be shared between the government and Aravind Eye Hospitals.
About 40 to 60 babies are born prematurely every month at the Gandhi Government Women and Children Hospital, where about 1,000 to 1,400 babies are born every month.
The government had earlier launched super specialty services in collaboration with Fortis Malar Hospital and Aishwarya Trust to treat the newborn babies at the government hospital. Specialists in the field of pediatric surgery and interventional treatment screen new born babies for all cardiac defects and extend all required follow-up treatment free of cost till surgical intervention.
The new arrangement ensures timely treatment to the ailing newborns at the government hospital thereby reducing infant mortality rate (IMR). It is estimated that 0.81% to 1% of children are born with cardiac defects. If this congenital cardiac disease is not diagnosed at birth, it may lead to morbidity and mortality of the newborn. Congenital cardiac disease is one of the causes of high IMR.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/kc3eot2
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