Shalimar Hall, Pearl Continental, Lahore
25th September 2017
Launching Ceremony of Kangaroo Mothercare was held on 25th April 2017, and organized by Policy and Strategic Planning Unit with the support of UNICEF and collaboration of Jang Forum.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Khawaja Salman Rafique, Minister Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education and Mr. Khawaja Imran Nazeer, Minister Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department. Mr. Ali Jan Khan Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department also graced the occasion with his presence. Among other prominent were Dr. Mukhtar Shah (Program Director, IRMNCH & Nutrition Program), Dr. Nadeem Zaka (Additional Program Director, PSPU), Mr. Douglas Higgins (Chief of Office, UNICEF Punjab), Dr. Tahir Manzoor (Health and Nutrition Specialist UNICEF Punjab), Dr. Rubina Sohail (Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology, SIMS), Dr. Tayyaba Waseem, Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology SIMS, Dr Fakhar Imam (VC, FJMU) , Dr Shamsa Humayun (Professor Obstetrics and Gynaecology SGRH), Dr Zohra Khanum (Professor Obstetrics and Gynaecology SGRH) , Dr Samina (MS, Lady Aitchison Hospital).
Kangaroo Mother Care is a cost effective intervention for saving the lives of premature low birth weight babies. This involves prolonged skin to skin contact along with exclusive breastfeeding and proves to be an alternate to incubators, hence very useful in resource limited setups in many developing countries. Kangaroo Mothercare has been effectively implemented in Services Hospital with the support of UNICEF. This ceremony was organized to share the success in implementation and to get political commitment for scaling up this intervention in the districts.
Dr. Tahir Manzoor, UNICEF gave overview of IMR and MMR in Punjab, Dr. Sufang shared Global perspective of Kangaroo Mother Care, Dr. Rubina Sohail shared, the Successful Story of Implementation of KMC in Services Hospital where 150 premature babies lives have been saved by this intervention. Dr. Naeem Majeed said that IRMNCH &Nutrition will pilot this in Bahawalnagar and Layyah, whereas Minister Primary and Secondary Healthcare promised to scale it up all over Punjab and begin with capacity building of healthcare staff. At the end Dr. Nadeem Zaka APD PSPU gave the way forward that involved development of Policy guideline notes along with an implementation Plan.