The Children’s Hospital at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) has announced the establishment of a “Neonatal Kitty”, an endowment fund for the welfare and well-being of patients belonging to low-income and poor families at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital.
The announcement to this effect came as the NICU celebrated its continued success of over 30 years with their faculty, staff, children, who started their journey from the NICU and their parents. The event was attended by more than 500 people from different walks of life.
Globally 15 million babies are born too early every year. These babies have special needs and require special care, which the multi-disciplinary team of the NICU is fully equipped for. “The NICU at the Aga Khan University Hospital is a 24-bed state of the art facility where premature babies from different provinces around Pakistan are also transferred for special care,” said Dr Ali Shabbir Hussain, director, NICU.
“The NICU at the Aga Khan University Hospital provides quality care and is equipped with board certified newborn specialists, trained and experienced nursing staff. The survival rate of premature babies at The Aga Khan University Hospital is above 90 per cent, thus the myth that premature babies do not survive is wrong. All these babies need is special care,” Dr Shabina Ariff, newborn specialist at the Aga Khan University Hospital.
To acknowledge the efforts of the staff at the AKUH and the parents in the recovery process of the pre-term babies, token of remembrance and certificates were distributed amongst the children who had graduated from the NICU and were leading an active life.
“My baby was transferred from another hospital in this city, the team here gave me the confidence, emotional support and counselling sessions to assist in my baby’s fast recovery. The team here is indeed very professional,” said Dr Nadia, mother of Fatima, a NICU patient.