FOGSI Vice President International Conference held in Pune

PUNE: At a time when the escalating number of preterm births in India is becoming a major concern leading to significant morbidity and distress, there is a need for better neonatal infrastructure, human resources and collaboration between pediatricians and Obstetrics and Gynaecologists opined various experts. The Pune Obstetric and Gynecological Society(POGS), The Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI), and the Department of OBYGN at Bharati Vidyapeeth University Medical College organized the two-day FOGSI Vice President International Conference this weekend. With the escalating number of preterm births in India, the theme of the conference was

‘Towards Zero Preterm births in India’. The sentiment of ‘Born too soon’ was the heart of the focused scientific discussions.

The conference included scientific sessions, workshops, paper presentations, and keynotes by experts.

Chief Guest Dr. Jaydeep Tank, President FOGSI, Guest of Honour Dr. Vasant Khalatkar, President-Elect Indian Academy of Paediatrics Dr. Sunita Tandulwadkar, President-Elect FOGSI, Dr. Aarti Nimkar, President POGS, Dr.Meenakshi Deshpande, Secretary POGS, Dr. Girija Wagh Organising Chairperson of the conference, Dr. Vaishali Chavan, Organising Secretary along with other dignitaries were present at the inaugural session.

Dr.Jaydeep Tank, President of FOGSI said one of the major problems with prematurity is the fact that the children have both long-term as well as short-term disabilities. Not all of them do. Neonatal care has now improved to an extent where a large majority don’t, but still, a significant number do have problems even later on in life. Of course, this is dependent on whether adequate neonatal care is available or not and that really is the sticking point. This is because neonatal care is highly specialized and is not easily available everywhere, attempts must be made both in the infrastructure space as well as the human resources to make sure that every neonate who needs it gets adequate neonatal care . Some of the things that we are doing for this, is promoting prevention and prediction of preterm labour , the introduction of high quality neonatal services in partnership with paediatricians and also the new concept of kangaroo mother care .

Talking about new technologies he added that there is a lot of potential in having big data, and, it means millions of data points being analyzed by artificial intelligence to further stratify the risk factors and identify which exactly are the preventive and predictive results.

Guest of Honour Dr. Vasant Khalatkar, President-Elect Indian Academy of Paediatrics preterm births remain one of the biggest challenges contributing to long lasting consequences. These can impact not just initial years but also life-term trajectory. This requires a robust partnership between obstetrician and paediatrician. Together we can form a circle of care for advance monitoring and treatment.

Book on preterm labour written by Dr. Girija Wagh , Conference Souvenir edited by Dr. Anagha Pai Pairaiturkar was also released on the occasion. Professor Dr.Kishore Kumar Founder Cloud 9 Hospitals, Dr Chitra Prasad Clinical Geneticist, Dr Mark Evans, and Dr. Meenu Agarwal, renowned Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, were felicitated for their contribution to the field. Dr.Uma Wankhede was declared the winner of the reel-making competition.

Dr. Girija Wagh, Organising Chairman said that October being a month of observing preterm births this was the right time to organise the conference.

Dr. Vaishali Chavan, Organising secretary proposed the vote of thanks.

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