Youngest -born twins in the country go home after successful treatment at Rajagiri Hospital

Fr. Johnson Vazhappilly CMI, Executive Director and CEO of Rajagiri Hospital with the team of doctors who successfully treated the youngest born babies at the Level 3 NICU, Rajagiri Hospital from (Lto R) Dr Ejaz, Dr Sheju, Dr Jino Joseph, Dr V P Paily, Dr Madhu George, Dr Abdul Tawab, Dr. Uma Mohandas, Dr Anshad with the NICU nurses.

The youngest premature babies, reported to have ever survived in India, were discharged from Rajagiri Hospital after 5 months of successful treatment. The twins were born at just 22 weeks gestation at Rajagiri Hospital. The mother, a native of Kottayam was under treatment for IVF at a private hospital in Kochi for the past two years and she got pregnant last year. But things didn’t look good for her as doctors diagnosed complications in her as during the 20th week of pregnancy, her uterus was found to be lying low and since she was carrying more than one baby, the risk level increased. Following this she was admitted to that private hospital and within 2 weeks of admission she developed severe pain and complications. In such a situation it was difficult to save the babies but as a last resort the mother was shifted to Rajagiri Hospital.

Survival of babies born at less than 24 weeks gestation would require special medical care and advanced facilities and hence their family friend recommended them to shift the mother to Rajagiri Hospital, which is capable of handling high risk pregnancies and providing advanced neonatal care. After the mother reached Rajagiri hospital, a group of doctors led by Senior Consultant and Head of Gynaecology Dr V P Paily took the babies out alive. The twin girls weighed only 438 grams and 505 grams at the time of birth.

The most critical care of the babies was under the supervision of Dr Madhu George, head of Neonatology. For the first 100 days these babies were kept on ventilator support with the combined efforts of the team of doctors and nurses the baby twins gradually started recovering mainly due to the advanced facilities available at the Neonatal ICU at Rajagiri. After completing 151 days of stay in the hospital, these babies were discharged at a gestational age of 44 weeks, weighing around 2.3 kg, breathing normally (without any respiratory support) and able to breast feed normally.

The Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Rajagiri Hospital is one of the best in the country and is led by Dr Madhu George, Consultant, Neonatology and includes a team of doctors including Dr. Jino Joseph, Dr. Abdul Tawab, Dr. Sheju Thomas, Dr. John Thomas, Dr Sreedeep K S, Dr. Uma Mohandas and Dr. Sis Jose who along with 25 odd Nurses put their best efforts to save these twins.

Fr. Johnson Vazhappilly CMI, Executive Director and CEO of Rajagiri Hospital added that the 16 bedded, Level 3 Neonatal ICU at Rajagiri Hospital, has all the latest facilities and is well equipped to look after the sickest babies born in the region. The Neonatology department at Rajagiri also plans to start neonatal transport services soon to help and support the other hospitals in the vicinity.