The special care newborn unit at the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH), Dibrugarh. A Telegraph picture

Sept. 2: When Jinnat Afruja gave birth to underweight and jaundiced triplets in April, she cringed in fear remembering all the stories of post-natal death she had heard before stepping into Assam Medical College and Hospital.

Four months later, the mother of three healthy babies, two boys and one girl, does not know how to thank the doctors and attendants at the special care newborn unit at the hospital for giving her three healthy babies.

“I really cannot thank them enough. All the doctors and staff at the unit worked round-the-clock to ensure that all my three babies received proper care,” Afruja said.

Set up with the joint initiative of the state government, the National Rural Health Mission, Unicef and the AMCH administration, the special care newborn unit is one of the few well-equipped ones in Dibrugarh.

There are 25 private nursing homes in the town, but barring a couple, none of them have proper newborn units.

This, despite the fact that neo-natal mortality rate of the district is 44.6 against 1,000 births while the infant mortality rate is 69.5 for every 1,000 births. Compared to the national neo-natal mortality rate in the state, it is quite high. In states like Kerala, for instance, the rate is as low as 11 for every 1,000 births.

A woman with her newborn at the unit. A Telegraph picture

“The number of deliveries carried out at the AMCH has been increasing each year. However, the number of nurses taking care of newborns has remained the same. Though the neo-natal mortality rate has gone down significantly in the last few years, it is still very high. With the help of this special care newborn unit, we can further reduce the number of deaths,” Unicef health officer Ajay Takroo said.

“Unicef has provided equipment for the unit, which include radiant warmers, oxygen concentrators, electronic weighing scales. Phototherapy units, syringe infusion pumps, pulse oxymeters and portable X-ray machines will soon be installed,” Reeta Bora, the in-charge of the unit, said.

The AMCH is the apex referral hospital for the whole of Upper Assam, which include Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji.

It is also the referral point for neighbouring states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

With this neo-natal unit, health experts hope the hospital will be instrumental in setting a new benchmark.