The neo natal ward of the Chengalpattu Government Hospital (CGH), Tamil Nadu, has developed a cost effective infant warmer and photo therapy unit as an effective alternative to the costly imported ones. Christened as Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Model, the infant warmer made out of wood and locally available parts has been developed by Dr. Sathya along with the nurses of the neo-natal ward. The model has won recognition at the Fifth International Conference of Peri-Natal Medicine at Barcelona, Spain.

The total cost of the model is Rs.10,000 as compared to Rs. 1 lakh of an imported model. The hospital has three imported warmers at present. "Many cases of underweight infants have been reported at the hospital. There was intense pressure on the staff of the unit to treat them all. It was during such a crunch situation that the idea of designing a cost-effective warmer came up," said Dr. Sathya.

While the warmer would maintain the body temperature of the infants, photo therapy would help to treat an infant affected with jaundice. "Constant experiments are being made to upgrade the model, and a similar model made from cane has been kept. This would be mobile thereby helping shift infants to hospitals in an ambulance, " Dr. Sathya maintained.

The neo-natal ward of the hospital had treated 1874 infants in 2001. This figure was up from 1765 infants in 2000 and 1168 infants in 1999.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs.10 crores for development works to be undertaken at the Medical College Hospital. A separate block for out patients at a cost of Rs. 1 crore, hostels, lecture halls and an auditorium would form the part of the development package. A new post delivery care unit for new borns would also come up at the hospitals.

The state government, it is learnt, is also initiating necessary steps to introduce post-graduate courses at the college apart from increasing the intake of students from the present 50 to 150.