“HEALTHIER CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE OF A NATION”

Rainbow Children’s Hospital was set up in Hyderabad on 14 November 1999. In 2006 it became the first children’s hospital with a perinatal sub-speciality. The obstetrics, foetal medicine and gynaecology departments were also set up then and have together made a huge impact on child care in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The hospital developed numerous support services to optimise outcomes for expectant mothers and newborn babies like pre-pregnancy counselling, childbirth education classes, etc. In a conversation with BW Businessworld, Dr Pranathi Reddy, Clinical Director, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at BirthRight by Rainbow Hospitals, emphasises the importance of integration of obstetric care services with childcare. Excerpts:

- Dr Pranathi Reddy

Please share your vision of integrated obstetrics services in a children’s hospital?

First, let’s start with the scientific evidence. And there’s enough evidence actually that childhood and subsequently adult health is shaped right from the foetal (unborn baby) period. Therefore, for the child to be born in the best of health, supervision and care should start from the foetal period and it seems like a no-brainer that the best place for a child to be born is at a paediatric hospital because the first breath that the child takes should essentially happen in a hospital that will care for him or her for the rest of childhood.

This can only happen if obstetrics (childbirth and pregnancy) is integrated into the children’s hospital. Childbirth alone cannot take place without providing the antenatal and foetal medicine services.

Do we need more children’s hospitals integrated with women’s healthcare?

Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of sense. And it’s not something new. We always had this concept of maternal and child health. It was always there. And now it’s just a revival of that in a more scientific and structured manner.

If you look at pregnancy and childbirth, this is actually

a very important event in a couple’s life. All of us agree that it’s like a transition. And this transition into parenthood is like entering a territory, which is not familiar to them.