HEALTHCARE
Post-discharge care of new-born
The challenge
The improvement in perinatal care provided during the last decade has resulted in better survival and reduced morbidity in the neonatal population. However clearly identifiable risk group of survivors such as those born preterm or sick at birth, are expected to have higher rates of health & developmental problems. These risk survivors need long term follow-up both at the community & facility level for the provision of continuum of care, which could avert postnatal complications arising out of their risk.
Follow up rates of risk neonates discharged from SNCUs of Tamil Nadu are high during the first one or two visits and steadily fall thereafter. The reasons for this decline could be multifactorial, like not understanding the importance of follow up by the parents, reduced accessibility, lack of adequate community connect, failure to identify a sick child in time, etc.
The solution
To improve these lacunae and improve post discharge care, Cognizant Foundation is supporting IIT Madras for a project to roll out a technology solution for temperature monitoring of new-born babies post discharge. This intervention will include care at home and in the facility, not only through existing delivery system but also through a digital platform for the health care providers and the family.
The 3 year project is an end-to-end intervention involving hospitals, mothers, newborn babies through wireless monitoring device and connectivity platform. The monitoring device – 98.6 Fever Watch – is a compact continuous fever monitoring system through Bluetooth enabled special sensor. It is provided to the parent for a period of 1 month from the date of discharge. This device is developed by Helyxon Healthcare Solutions incubated by the IITM Medtech Incubator. Helyxon’s vision is to enable affordable healthcare delivery to anyone, anywhere and anytime. Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) is a joint initiative by IIT Madras and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.
