The cumbersome days of stressful, manual, wired monitoring of the unborn child in pregnant mothers will soon end - thanks to a new system unveiled at a hospital here. The Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, known as the Sion Hospital, has introduced system in order to monitor the fetal heart rate and condition of the baby in the uterus of a pregnant lady for the first time in India.
Fetal heart rate monitoring is a process of checking the condition of baby during labor by monitoring his or her heart rate with a special equipment. The system has been installed in the hospital’s gynaecology department and is to help the pregnant women get live images of their fetuses. For the first time in India, underprivileged mothers will be able to avail a facility that is not yet available in any private or public hospital for them in India currently.
The Monitoring and Care (MONICA) system has been made available. The gadget used in the system comes with the size of a mobile phone. The mobile phone sized gadget can be worn around the neck comfortably to give accurate assessment of the baby's condition in the uterus. This system gives separate readings of the heart beat rate for both the mother and child. This technology uses ECG-like leads placed on the mother’s abdomen for live monitoring of foetal ECG, maternal heart rate and uterine contractions. It improves uterine contraction detection without the risk associated with intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC).
This system is gift for obese pregnant women. Fetal heart rate monitoring may help detect changes in the normal heart rate pattern during labor. Timely steps can be taken to help treat the underlying pr oblemif there is any problem. A normal fetal heart rate can reassure both the pregnant lady and health care provider that it is safe to continue labor if no other problems are present.
