Bhubaneswar, March 20: Ambassador of Norway to India Nils Ragnar Kamsvag paid a visit to Capital Hospital today and inaugurated a new building housing a comprehensive skill lab, family care centre at the special newborn care unit (SNCU). The hospital also got a paediatric emergency triage, which is an assessment and treatment unit.
The Norwegian government is supporting the state government in this project.
The building has come up at a cost of Rs 17 crore. This is the second comprehensive skill lab in the state. The first one is located at the College of Nursing, Berhampur.
Nurses and auxiliary nurse-midwives (ANMs) gave a demonstration at the comprehensive skill lab unit to Kamsvag, who was accompanied by health minister Pradip Kumar Amat, on how they helped in safe delivery of a child and took care of ailing mothers.
"Trainees learn by practising on mannequins, simulation exercises, demonstration videos and presentations," said a doctor at the hospital. The ANMs at the centre would be given six days' training after their course on child delivery was complete.
The doctor said training included individualised learning through videos and self-practice on mannequins.
"We ensure each trainee acquires all the required skills. We have competency-specific assessment that helps us identify those who are weak in a particular skill. We then have them master these skills with periodic reorientation and practice," said the doctor.
The paediatric emergency triage assessment and treatment unit is essential for saving lives in paediatric emergency cases.
"Paediatric emergencies need to be attended to immediately at the facilities so that the crucial time for intervention is not lost and the lives of the mother and child are saved," said the doctor.
The family centred care unit intends to provide knowledge to new mothers on kangaroo care and home care of newborns after discharge from hospital. Kangaroo care is a technique where newborn babies are kept skin-to-skin with a parent, typically the mother.
National Health Mission director Shalini Pandit said: "The SNCU at Capital Hospital started in 2009 with the support of Norway. The number of beds has increased now."
Norway India Partnership Initiative or NIPI was started in 2007 with Sambalpur, Angul and Jharsuguda as pilot districts for innovation. The Norway government is providing Rs 60 crore for the purpose.
As part of the programme, Norway has supported the state government in its initiatives for better newborn care, paediatric emergency, nursing education and family planning.
The NIPI has also supported the government in setting up the State Newborn care Resource Centre at Sishu Bhavan for quality monitoring and capacity-building activities of SNCUs.
Health and family welfare department secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda, country director of Jhpiego, an international non-profit health organisation, and Bulbul Sood, Harish Kumar and Asfaq Bhat from the NIPI Newborn Project were present on the occasion.
