Sion Hospital first in India to get dedicated paediatric nutrition unit

LTMG Sion Hospital, a tertiary care hospital run by the civic body, has got a dedicated unit for paediatric nutrition. The unit, which is the first of its kind in the country, was inaugurated on May 15.

Nutritionist Priya Karkera has volunteered to run the clinic along with her nine students, who have completed their course in paediatric nutrition from SNDT college, Juhu this year.

"Having a paediatric nutritionist is the need of the hour. It helps in overall recovery. I have started this setup with my students, and plan to replicate it in other hospitals soon," said Karkera.

She added that in a day, Sion Hospital sees more than 500 children in its outdoor patient department, specialty clinics and indoor patient department.

She explained the role of a paediatric nutritionist by giving an example. "Today, we saw a 3-year-old boy who has been suffering from hernia since birth, and is awaiting surgery. His mother has been bringing him to the hospital frequently, with complaints of either loose motion or constipation. She did not know what to feed him. She took medicines from the hospital only to return them back. This is where our role comes into place," said Karkera.

The team will be closely monitoring the food given to the in-patients and how are they being fed.

"While in-patients get food from the hospital, it is important to monitor how the child is being fed. For example, we insist the mothers of children on tube-feeding to apply simply mct oil or ghee to the tube while feeding, so that it adds to the nutritional value," said Karkera.

The hospital has recently opened a new nutrition research facility which will, other than devising newer nutritional food, also produce the same for malnourished kids including children with Cancer and HIV.

Dr Alka Jadhav, professor of paediatrics at Sion Hospital, said: "Malnutrition remains the biggest threat to child survival, growth and development, despite significant development in the social and economic sector worldwide. Future global prosperity and security are intimately linked with our ability to respond adequately to this urgent challenge."