The clinic will help detect congenital abnormalities in unborn children
Wadia Hospital has launched a perinatology clinic with a team of eight doctors from foetal medicine and various sub-specialities in paediatrics like cardiology, neurology, surgery, nephrology, orthopaedics amongst others, to provide proper diagnosis and counsel the parents. The clinic has already helped detected over 100 cases.
Over the years, Wadia Hospital has created awareness among the patients regarding congenital defects with the help of expertise and the latest technology. Around 1,000 foetal echocardiography were performed on a yearly basis where it was found that almost 50 per cent have abnormalities. 83 cases with defected were reported in 2015-16 while 175 in 2016-17. The number doubled in 2017-18 when the number was 375. In 2018-19, 617 cases were seen, and in 2019-20, 600. These figures are harrowing. Hence, a perinatology clinic was introduced as a one-stop solution.
Dr Purnima Satoskar, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Wadia Hospital, highlighted, “The aim of this clinic is to offer affordable, holistic, multidisciplinary care to the unborn child with congenital abnormalities; right from diagnosis in the womb until the treatment is completed. All high-risk cases /pregnancies are referred to the perinatology OPD for an initial assessment and further advanced evaluations like fetal echocardiography and genetic testing are advised by the team of specialists.”
“The potential parents are then counselled together about the diagnosis, treatment plan, and long-term outcome of the baby,” said Dr Sumitra Venkatesh, Paediatric cardiologist, Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital.
Dr Satoskar adds, “These days, it is possible to suspect a congenital anomaly as early as 11 to 14 weeks on the routine sonography owing to the availability of advanced technologies. The services offered in this OPD prepare the couple mentally and financially to deal with the problem as compared to a crisis situation when diagnosed after birth.”
“At times, if multiple malformations involving kidneys, spine, and brain are detected in the same foetus, which is not surgically correctible or curable, then the couple may opt for termination of pregnancy within the legal framework,” said Dr Shilpa Kulkarni, Paediatric Neurologist, Wadia Hospital.
“We are happy to announce the commencement of Perinatology Opd services in NWMH, which is a collaborative initiative by the foetal medicine team at the maternity hospital and the various speciality teams at the hospital. The aim is to make life much easier for the parents and also the newborn baby, by counselling them in detail about the disease condition and its prognosis, offering them the choice of available treatment, and empowering the parents to make the right and timely decisions. Theis OPD functions once a week for now, but owing to a surge in numbers of high-risk pregnancies and babies with congenital problems, we will soon make it twice a week,” said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospital.
