23 June 2020, Abu Dhabi, UAE: United Eastern Medical Services (UEMedical) has announced the expansion of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Danat Al Emarat Hospital for Women & Children in Abu Dhabi. The 20 million AED expansion included the addition of 18 advanced beds in accordance with the highest international specifications, of which 11 beds are categorized as level III. The new total available beds now have increased to 33 beds, which makes the unit one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in Abu Dhabi.

Mariano Gonzalez, CEO of Danat Al Emarat Hospital for Women & Children stated, “this expansion comes under the framework of the hospital’s ongoing plans to meet the increased demand for premature newborns intensive care. This is in light of the significant increase of births at the hospital, as well as receiving referred patients from other hospitals who need admission to NICU. The unit is advanced and fully equipped to receive complex cases and extremely premature births who need intensive care. Proudly, the smallest newborn born at 23 weeks of pregnancy was discharged from Danat Al Emarat after 4 months of staying at the NICU, which is certified by Department of Health Abu Dhabi as level III NICU.”

He added that the hospital’s specialized fetal medicine department as well as the subspecialties in pediatrics including pediatric cardiology and pediatric surgery led by an elite group of qualified pediatricians and surgeons ensures the capabilities of the hospital in providing quality care to sick and extremely premature babies.

Dr. Sadoon Sami Sadoon, Chief Medical Officer, Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Minimally Invasive Surgery Consultant at Danat Al Emarat said, “all new beds have been verified and certified by the Department of Health Abu Dhabi. With this expansion, we have recruited additional physicians and specialized nurses. We now have within our team over 10 consultants and specialists in neonatology and over 40 NICU nurses. Premature babies, born before the 37 weeks of pregnancy, are usually smaller in weight, and may require breathing and nutrition support depending on their gestation age. Out of the 18,500 newborns welcomed at Danat Al Emarat since its opening in October 2015, around 1800 were premature and were admitted to our NICU. Other newborns were born after 37 of gestation but still required admission to NICU for other medical reasons.”

Dr. Iviano Ossuetta, Head of Neonatology at Danat Al Emarat Hospital emphasized on the importance of the expansion. He said, “this comes as a result of the success we have witnessed in the past 5 years and the increased demand for complex and advanced neonatal services. As a result of our positive clinical outcomes, the hospital is now considered a referral center for high risk pregnancies and neonatal intensive care, including sick newborns requiring complex surgical intervention or pediatric subspecialty care such as neonatal cardiology for complex congenital heart disease.”

“The new expansion brought in additional advanced technologies and some of the latest smart services that are used worldwide in caring for premature and/or sick babies. In our NICU, we have treated over 100 premature babies born before completing 30 weeks of pregnancy. Half of these babies were born less than 28 weeks into the pregnancy and more than 25 of them were less than 26 weeks,” Dr. Ossuetta concluded.

Source: www.uemedical.ae