Department of NICU

The department of NICU in Ahalia Hospital is a state-of-the-art unit that provides care for infants, who become critically ill. NICU is completely well-found with advanced technology and skilled staff. That helps to deliver the best possible care and speedy recovery. We have a well-experienced Neonatologist covering 24/7 and a multi-disciplinary team to offer bespoke attention to each child.

Scope of Services

The newborn intensive care unit (NICU ) in Ahalia Hospital, Musaffa is a 13–bed unit(8NICU and 5 Nursery beds), which aims to provide family-centered care for sick newborns requiring Level 2 intensive care. The unit has facilities for conventional and high-frequency ventilation, nasal continuous positive airway pressure ventilation, surfactant replacement therapy, and exchange transfusion. This unit is equipped with incubators, open care systems, monitors, transport incubators with ventilators, and phototherapy units, and has immediate access to sophisticated laboratory facilities, ultrasonography, and MRI. Babies are screened for congenital hypothyroidism, metabolic disorders, hearing defects, and congenital cyanotic heart disease.
Services Available:

• Neonatal resuscitation at every delivery by trained and NRP-certified staff
• Evaluation and provision of post-natal care to stable-term newborn infants
• Follow up in well baby clinic and Lactation Clinic
• Intensive care for infants above 32 weeks of gestation and weighing above 1500g at birth who have physiologic immaturity or who are moderately ill with problems that are expected to resolve rapidly and are not anticipated to need sub-specialty services on an urgent basis
• Step-down care for infants convalescing after neonatal intensive care
• Mechanical ventilation (both conventional and high-frequency ventilation)using modern Dragger ventilators
• Non-Invasive Ventilation: Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP), and synchronized nasal intermittent positive airway pressure ventilation(SNIPPV)
• Surfactant replacement therapy
• Stabilization of infants born before 32 weeks of gestation and weighing less than 50g until transfer to a Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit
• Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism, metabolic disorders, hearing defects, and congenital cyanotic heart disease
• Phototherapy including intensive phototherapy for babies with neonatal jaundice
• Exchange transfusion for severe neonatal jaundice and severe neonatal anemia

Current Out Patient Service

Follow-up service is provided in pediatric outpatients

Current In-Patient Service

• Respiratory distress requiring monitoring, supplemental oxygen administration, or ventilation
• Suspected or confirmed infection
• Temperature instability despite a 30-minute attempt to warm the baby with overhead warmer
• Apeoa or cyanotic episodes
• Seizures or suspected sepsis
• 5 minute APGAR score < 7
• Perinatal depression or Asphyxia
• Malformation likely to interfere with breathing or feeding
• Pre-Planned admission because of problems identified antenatally
• Failure to maintain normal blood glucose (>2.6mmol/L) with oral feeds alone
• Suspected metabolic disorder
• Hyperbilirubinemia needing intensive phototherapy or exchange transfusion</li
• Symptomatic anemia (Hb<110g/dl)
• Symptomatic polycythemia(HCt>65)
• Symptomatic hypocalcemia (ionised calcium <0.8mmol/L)
• Thrombocytopenia(<100000/cmm)
• Pyrexia or other signs of infection

Common Procedures are done in NICU

• Resuscitation
• Endo tracheal intubation
• High-Frequency Oscillatory ventilation
• Conventional ventilation
• Non-invasive ventilation (NCPAP)
• Umbilical venous catheterization
• Percutaneously inserted central venous line
• Intercostal chest drainage insertion
• Lumbar Puncture
• Peripheral Arterial Line Insertion
• Intensive Phototherapy
• Transcutaneous Bilirubinometry
• Heel prick bedside glucose monitoring