Madurai Hospital Opens Department For Fetal Medicine

Madurai: Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) on Sunday opened a department exclusively for fetal medicine , with an aim to to provide special and comprehensive care to fetuses by specialists, including obstetricians and geneticists.

“Providing comprehensive care for high-risk pregnancy and supportive neonatal intensive care is the primary objective,” said Dr S Padma, head of department of Fetal Medicine. For diagnosis, advanced high-resolution ultrasonography, an ultrasound-based imaging technique, will be used to pick up structural defects, neurological defects and cardiac defects.

“We go for specialized tests and care for the fetuses identified as high risk. We also give competent counselling for mothers carrying fetuses with the potential for genetic disorders and malformations. This helps mothers to understand and to make informed decisions on the medical options,” said Dr T Mukuntharajan, HOD, interventional Radiology.

The facility will be useful for couples opting for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)-based fertility treatments. “These days more and more couples are going for it. ART can increase the cases of triplets (three babies), and quadruplets (four babies). These multiple pregnancies have a very high chance of getting aborted. For a better pregnancy outcome well-equipped tertiary care centres are important,” said Dr S Gurushankar, Chairman, MMHRC. Following the inaugural event, the hospital also organized a one-day Continuing Medical Education (CME) program on foetal medicine, in association with Indian Medical Association, Madurai. CME attracted about 100 doctors from South Tamil Nadu.-Times Of India