Pediatric Department

Pediatrics – as a separate branch of medicine, which would be solely dedicated to the holistic care of children was established and functional in 2005 at District Hospital Kargil.

THE INITIAL YEARS: 2007 – 2010

The Developmental Phase

By 2007, the pediatric unit has been functional with 8 beds. Dr. Ghulam Mohammad, senior consultant pediatric was in-charge of the department. Later, Dr. Tsering Norphel joined as the consultant pediatric in 2009 and established the 6-bed Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in July 2010 under NRHM at District Hospital Kargil. With their knowledge and skills to treat and cure, the neonatal mortality of Kargil district gradually and progressively decline from 106 to less than 45 per 1,000 live births.

THE GROWING AND MATURING YEARS: 2011 – 2024

The Expansion and Progressive Phase

The later decades saw the emergence of a new and enthusiastic generation of pediatrician, Dr. Anwar Hussain, first MD pediatrics from Ladakh, joined in 2017 as consultant pediatrics. Under his supervisions new ward of 12 beds was developed along with specialized outdoor clinics – Lactation clinic, Seizure clinic, Well Baby clinic, championed the promotion of breastfeeding

The year 2023 marked the expansion of the modern pediatric ward, nutrition rehabilitation centre (NRC) and 16-bed state of the art Special Newborn Care units (SNCU) with room-in-facility for mothers was established at District Hospital Kargil, Kurbathang. The SNCU has thrived with quality treatment procedures and protocols. The unit today is well equipped with modern ventilators, CPAP, double surface phototherapy, bed-side ECHO machine; and offers one of the best neonatal cares for the sick and small babies for the region and prides in its high success rates.

The departments is rapidly expanding in its academics base and hospital activities, the current footfalls of patients in outdoor department being about 6,100/year and annual indoor admissions over 2,000/year. The pediatric department has continued to evolve under the able leaderships of renowned pediatrician and with the joining of new and enthusiastic consultant pediatric Dr. Nargis Banoo, trained from the prestigious institute AIIMS New Delhi, a 3-bedded modern pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) was started.

The department has remained steadfast in its mission to provide the best quality care in pediatrics and offer protection to the physical and mental health of every child regardless of their socioeconomics circumstances.