Pune: The Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) completed one year of functioning on Monday. 

During this time span, around 3,000 critical sick newborns were admitted and the survival rate was 90 to 95 per cent, said the hospital authorities.

As the demand for more specialised NICU in the city has gone up, the Pune-based Mukul Madhav Foundation, an NGO, has decided to set up four NICUs at Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) hospitals. The NICUs at the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital and the Sonawane Hospital would be functional from May 5.

Dr Rajesh Kulkarni said the unit has facilities for Total Parenteral Nutrition, Human Milk Bank, retinopathy of prematurity screening for testing the eyesight and newborn hearing screening facilities.
“The NICU has 12 doctors and 72 nurses, who are well trained. With this NICU, the survival rate of babies has increased to 95 per cent. The city is in need of many more such NICU centres,” said Kulkarni.