Premature birthing is increasing day by day due to increased stress in our modern life and the advancement of IVF services. Nearly 10% of all newborns are born prematurely which means the baby is born at least 3 weeks before the expected date of delivery or before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Even a baby born as early as 24 weeks of maturity or 16 weeks premature and baby with a birth weight of 500-600 g can survive and lead a normal healthy life if he gets care in a good and modern NICU facility from the very first minute of his birth.

These babies are very fragile with very low body reserve. So, they need various forms of support every moment of their life for the first 4 to 5-weeks till they get mature and tolerate full feeding.

Their lungs are premature, so they need support like ventilation, CPAP Oxygen, etc. Their food pipe is premature, so they need special nutrition throughout their vein till they got mature, and they can tolerate feed. 

They are susceptible to bleeding in various parts of their body, especially in the brain. Because of their poor immune system, they are prone to a variety of severe infections which can be life-threatening.

A neonatologist's job is not only to treat the complications but also to proactively anticipate the complications and try to prevent them. If we could do that in a modern NICU then the chance of not just survival but Intact survival that is survival without long-term complications can be increased. 

All extreme premature babies should be born in a center with a good NICU facility. Where there is no NICU, the baby should be transferred to a NICU as soon as possible. This transport can be critical because they can lose heat and can develop many serious complications during their transport. But we give the service of transporting very sick or premature babies from peripheral units to our level three NICU.

By Dr. Sumita Saha, Consultant - Paediatrics & Paediatric Surgery, Fortis Hospital Kolkata