Doctors, paramedics and frontline health workers met at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here and deliberated on how Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) could help bring down neonatal mortality rate (NMR) in India and there could be more sensitisation among the people involved in health sector.
The event was conducted from January 19 to 24 under the leadership of KIMS neonatologist Dr Santosh Kumar Panda.
Dr Panda said the KMC concept originated in Bogota of Columbia in 1978 and the KIMS has adopted it since 2012. As the kangaroo infant stays connected to its mother and goes out of the pouch once its growth period is over, through KMC low birth weight (LBW, birth weight of neonate less than 2500gram) babies can also be kept to the chest of mothers to keep them warm and provision of exclusive breast milk feasible for the infant. Mothers should provide KMC at home. It also helps in the survival of LBW infants in resource-limited settings.
Dr Panda informed that more than 3,000 LBW babies have received KMC at the Paediatric Department of KIMS.
Experts said Odisha can fight the NMR, which is currently 28. While the national average is 23, Odisha is second in the table just after Madhya Pradesh, which has NMR at 31 per 1,000 live births.
