Inauguration of the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre facility at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children (BJWHC)

by Suman Gupta

• BJWHC partnership with UNICEF to establish a centre of excellence in providing standard treatment for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) & comprehensive care for prevention of SAM

• More than 250 SAM children will get holistic inpatient care at this facility every year

1^st October 2019, Mumbai:  Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children (BJWHC), India’s first and largest Paediatric hospital in association with UNICEF formally inaugurated the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre facility at BJWHC.

The inauguration was presided by Chief guest, Mr Jim Morris, United States Representative on the Executive Board of the United National Children’s Fund (UNICEF) along with Mrs. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief of UNICEF Field Office for Maharashtra, Mr. Ness Wadia, Trustee, Wadia Hospitals, Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals and other dignitaries.

The state of the art Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre will address child survival and development with equity among the most deprived urban poor communities in and around Mumbai by providing advanced treatment support with a focus on early childhood development for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition at BJWHC. More than 250 SAM children will get holistic inpatient care at this facility every year. As part of this effort, UNICEF has been continuously offering technical and training support to staff members functioning in the hospital. This state of the art NRC plus unit will also establish itself as the centre for research. This centre would also become the training hub for health staff and field staff on management of children with SAM.

Child Under nutrition remains the biggest threat to child survival, growth and development despite significant development in the social and economic sector across the Country. It continues to be a huge public health challenge and future global prosperity and security are intimately linked with our ability to respond adequately to this urgent challenge. ‘The Lancet’ 2013 series shows that under nutrition contributes to the deaths of about 3 million children each year – 45% of the total mortality load of the under-fives.

Mr. Jim Morris, United States Representative on the Executive Board of the United National Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said,”Children should be healthy and not hungry, hunger and malnutrition cause serious health issue for children and adults everyday, no baby should struggle, there should be happiness in every babies eyes. BJWHC in association with UNICEF is doing a wonderful job towards this cause and I am privileged to be a part of this inauguration”.He further added, “The work done by the hospital is so impressive, so good and thanked all for the work they are doing for the children from so many years”.

Mrs. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief of UNICEF Field Office for Maharashtra said, “UNICEF has partnered with Bai Jerbai Wadia Children’s hospital, a lead hospital for pediatric care for underprivileged in India for establishing state of the art nutrition rehabilitation centre for management of children with severe acute malnutrition. This hospital is providing mentoring and coaching support to improve the quality of services in infant and young child feeding and early childhood development. This partnership will contribute in improving the capacities of the institutions in the state in the area of child nutrition and will go a long way in the holistic development of the children.”

Mr. Ness Wadia, Trustee, Wadia Hospitals said, “We welcome and highly appreciate the role being played by UNICEF to address the issue and challenges with respect to Malnutrition. The centre of excellence established through partnership with UNICEF will provide much-needed encouragement to Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in its resolve and commitment to provide the best treatment possible to children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition.”

Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, Chief Executive Officer of the Wadia Hospitals said, “We are extremely delighted to formally inaugurate our Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in association with UNICEF. Hunger and malnutrition have devastating consequences for children and have been linked to low birth weight and birth defect and poorer educational outcomes. We at BJWHC are highly committed towards this cause and this initiative takes us one step closer towards our goal of providing all services for children under one roof. We have an excellent team of medical staff who will take care of the children here and ensure they get a chance to laugh and learn like other kids around.  We are very thankful to UNICEF for extending their support and look forward to further strengthening our partnership with them to improve child nutrition and early childhood development in India.”

About BJWHC: Located in the heart of Mumbai, Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children is India’s first and largest Paediatric hospital. The hospital pledges to extend its services to people, regardless of their socio-economic status. Believing strongly in the fact that quality healthcare should not be restricted to only certain sections of society, BJWHC offers state of the art services for neonatal and paediatric care.

A teaching hospital of world-wide repute, this 525 bed hospital is propelled by a highly accomplished team of over 100 Paediatrics specialists devoting themselves to the care of over 3,00,000 children on an outpatient basis, and approximately 25,000 children as inpatients, annually.

In its effort to provide universal healthcare, BJWHC also acts as a tertiary level referral centre, is a nodal centre for Clubfoot in Maharashtra and is the only centre for Neonatal/Paediatric Dialysis in Western India. BJWHC also has one of the largest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the world. BJWHC has centres of excellence in the field of Paediatric Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology; Haemat Oncology, Bone marrow transplant with more than 35 services under one roof.

About UNICEF CRC 30: This year UNICEF will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In 30 years, much has changed, especially for children – and in another 30 years, things will continue to change in unforeseeable ways. Yet, the convention is as relevant today as ever. Child rights have not changed, they have no expiry date. But childhood has changed. Global trends, like digital technologies, environmental change, mass migration and urbanisation are changing childhood fast. Today’s children face new threats to their rights, but also have new opportunities to realize their rights. In 2019, we must look ahead to the future of childhood and commit to fulfil the rights of every child, now, and for generations to come.