Study: Polythene wrap can save premature babies' lives

Call it yet another instance of Indian jugaad. A study by a city doctor says humble polythene wrap used in packing everything from food to books can save the lives of prematurely-born babies during their critical trip to hospital.

The study found that as compared with babies wrapped up in clothes, those transported to hospital in polythene wrap had higher temperature at the time of hospital admission. They were, thus, at lower risk of hypothermia-- dangerously-low body temperature that prevents bodily organs from functioning normally, leading to death if untreated.

"Our study demonstrated that polythene wrap is safe and effective in improving admission temperature of pre-term infants" on the way to hospital, said Dr. Bhupendra Avasthi, neonatologist with Surya Children's Hospital. In the year-long study, he compared the body temperatures of 50 babies brought to hospital in polythene wrap and 50 babies brought to hospital in clothes.

"Polythene wrap is inexpensive, easily available, and cost-effective in maintaining temperature of the infant during transportation. In a country like India, where long-duration transportation is required to transfer infants to intensive care units, the use of clothes for wrapping increases risk of hypothermia," said Dr. Avasthi.

The doctor presented his findings at a national conference of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics at Meerut in November.

All the babies in the study had been born elsewhere, then brought to the neonatal intensive care unit of Surya Children's Hospital by the transport team of the hospital.

At present, 29 out of every 1000 babies born in India die at birth, and the country alone accounts for 27% of global neonatal deaths.