KARACHI, Sept 13: The newly-constructed 70-bed intensive care unit for newborns will start functioning at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) by the end of next October.

This will be the largest neonatal unit in the country, providing services to not only Karachi, but also to the interior of Sindh and Balochistan, a press release said here on Friday.

There will be 40 incubators and four ventilators exclusively for newborns. The unit is going to be able to provide care to babies weighing even less than one-kilogram more effectively. Separate rooms will also be provided to newborns with jaundice, which would accommodate up to 30 newborns.

The NICH admits more than 3000 newborns yearly, whereas around 1000 newborns either die the moment they reach the emergency room or they are brought in already dead. In Karachi, more than 500,000 births take place yearly, of which 25 per cent are low birth weight babies and may need hospital care. All city hospitals provide only 250 beds, which do not fulfil the need.—PPI