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Seeing four-month-old Bela gurgle and burp, you can’t imagine how precarious her life was at birth. She was born in the 29th week, roughly the size of a butternut squash and weighing just 1. 2kg. Her right hand was fractured and she had jaundice, respiratory distress and fungal sepsis – a disease that causes death in up to 76% of cases.
To survive, Bela (name changed) needed urgent and intensive care in a hospital, but her parents couldn’t afford it. Her father Ganesh, a salesperson at a Bengaluru mall, had come down with dengue fever shortly before her birth. So, her parents had returned to their hometown, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, about 200km from Bengaluru.
Yet, Bela made it to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Motherhood Hospital, Indiranagar (Bengaluru) in time. She was placed in an incubator to maintain her core temperature, an orthopaedician fixed her right hand with splints, she received phototherapy to treat jaundice, and returned home after 25 days in the NICU.
All of this became possible because the Bengaluru-based nonprofit Neonates Foundation of India (NFI) provided financial support for Bela’s treatment. So far, NFI has raised Rs 75 lakh through philanthropists to bear the NICU bills of babies from needy families, and has supported the treatment of 26 babies from remote areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
To reduce newborn mortality, NFI has partnered with Motherhood Hospitals across India and Rangadore Memorial Hospital in Bengaluru. For example, in Bela’s case Motherhood Hospitals subsidised her treatment. NFI is now looking for more NICU partners.
“We are focusing only on the treatment of neonates,” says Vishal Bali, a general council member of the NFI.
“Overall, India’s current neonatal mortality is 26 per 1,000 live births, with the rural rate being significantly higher than urban India’s, and this needs to be addressed. ”Bali says lack of neonatal care results in 3. 5 million premature births every year in India. Four of every 10 such babies die within the first 24 hours. NFI and Motherhood Hospital, Banashankari (Bengaluru), recently also supported the treatment of Priyanka’s twin boys who were born in the 28th week with multiple complications, weighing 1kg and 1. 1kg, respectively.
Priyanka is a homemaker and her husband Manjunath, a driver, earns Rs 30,000 per month. She had conceived several years after marriage, so when her sons were born with respiratory and cardiovascular issues the couple were distraught. Difficulty in feeding led to anaemia in the babies, and there were signs of jaundice as well.
The twins spent two months at the hospital, where they were kept under observation in the NICU. NFI crowdfunded their treatment while the hospital subsidised it. Now, both twins are doing well.
“We are providing timely neonatal care and financial support to newborns from underprivileged families, irrespective of location. Every newborn has a right to live. We will partner with various hospitals that have specialised NICU care and take this expertise from urban to rural India,” says Bali.
O P Khanna, founder of Needy Heart Foundation and general council member of NFI, adds, “NFI is targeting a healthcare area that needs critical attention. Reducing neonatal mortality in India and ensuring neonatal care to babies from underprivileged backgrounds needs organised effort. ”
To survive, Bela (name changed) needed urgent and intensive care in a hospital, but her parents couldn’t afford it. Her father Ganesh, a salesperson at a Bengaluru mall, had come down with dengue fever shortly before her birth. So, her parents had returned to their hometown, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, about 200km from Bengaluru.
Yet, Bela made it to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Motherhood Hospital, Indiranagar (Bengaluru) in time. She was placed in an incubator to maintain her core temperature, an orthopaedician fixed her right hand with splints, she received phototherapy to treat jaundice, and returned home after 25 days in the NICU.
All of this became possible because the Bengaluru-based nonprofit Neonates Foundation of India (NFI) provided financial support for Bela’s treatment. So far, NFI has raised Rs 75 lakh through philanthropists to bear the NICU bills of babies from needy families, and has supported the treatment of 26 babies from remote areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
To reduce newborn mortality, NFI has partnered with Motherhood Hospitals across India and Rangadore Memorial Hospital in Bengaluru. For example, in Bela’s case Motherhood Hospitals subsidised her treatment. NFI is now looking for more NICU partners.
“We are focusing only on the treatment of neonates,” says Vishal Bali, a general council member of the NFI.
“Overall, India’s current neonatal mortality is 26 per 1,000 live births, with the rural rate being significantly higher than urban India’s, and this needs to be addressed. ”Bali says lack of neonatal care results in 3. 5 million premature births every year in India. Four of every 10 such babies die within the first 24 hours. NFI and Motherhood Hospital, Banashankari (Bengaluru), recently also supported the treatment of Priyanka’s twin boys who were born in the 28th week with multiple complications, weighing 1kg and 1. 1kg, respectively.
Priyanka is a homemaker and her husband Manjunath, a driver, earns Rs 30,000 per month. She had conceived several years after marriage, so when her sons were born with respiratory and cardiovascular issues the couple were distraught. Difficulty in feeding led to anaemia in the babies, and there were signs of jaundice as well.
The twins spent two months at the hospital, where they were kept under observation in the NICU. NFI crowdfunded their treatment while the hospital subsidised it. Now, both twins are doing well.
“We are providing timely neonatal care and financial support to newborns from underprivileged families, irrespective of location. Every newborn has a right to live. We will partner with various hospitals that have specialised NICU care and take this expertise from urban to rural India,” says Bali.
O P Khanna, founder of Needy Heart Foundation and general council member of NFI, adds, “NFI is targeting a healthcare area that needs critical attention. Reducing neonatal mortality in India and ensuring neonatal care to babies from underprivileged backgrounds needs organised effort. ”
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