The Chief Guests were Mr. Geir. O. Pedersen, Director General Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Shri Mahendra Hadia, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, MP. Also present were the State Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Mohanty, and Mission Director National Rural Health Mission, Dr. Manohar Agnani. From the Norwegian Embassy the Minister Counsellor Aslak Brun, Counsellor Inger Sangnes and Senior Advisor Ashfaq Bhat were present.
This Sick New Born Care Unit (SNCU) is an intensive care centre at the district hospital where sick newborns are referred both from delivery wards and from home. The SNCU has state of the art equipment for appropriate care of sick newborns and is manned by specially trained doctors and nurses.
NIPI has supported the establishment of almost 50 Sick New Born Care Units in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa through UNICEF. There is a survival rate of about 90% of the admitted babies. The average cost for a 25-bed unit with construction and equipment is about NOK 1,3 million (USD 210 000).
For further details, please contact Mr. Anthony Cameron, Director, NIPI Secretariat, 11 Golf Links, New Delhi (AntonyC@unops.org).