To the Editor: The Facility-Based New Born Care (FBNC) Program is one of the comprehensive programs to promote newborn health in India. The government of Odisha has established Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) for accommodating sick neonates. However, routine analysis and monitoring of the SNCU data for action is rarely done. This study describes the profile and outcome of neonatal admissions in SNCUs, at District Hospitals, Aspirational Districts, Odisha, 2020-2022. Also, it estimated the Quality of Care delivered. The SNCU Quality of Care Index (SQCI) has been shown to be an effective tool for improving the quality of care in SNCUs [1, 2].

We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study of all newborns who received care at SNCUs of 10 District Hospitals, using the data from the SNCU online database for 2020-2022. Data included age, gender, admission type, mode of transport of outborns to SNCUs, birth weight, maturity, cause of admission, final diagnosis, death, referral, etc. We summarized the key findings as proportions. We calculated the SQCIs considering the seven SNCU quality care indices and the SQCIs were depicted as scores. The indices are color-coded for easier progress tracking and better visualization. We used MS Excel for data cleaning and analysis.

Out of 50226 admissions, 25843 (51%) were outborn. Nearly 29% (n = 14708) of babies were pre-term delivered, and 59% had low birth weight (<2500 g). Perinatal asphyxia was the most common reason for admission (14421, 29%) and mortality (9274, 18%) and referral (5666, 11%). Around 75% (n = 37594) of neonates got discharged. The overall Composite SQCI for all districts displays a satisfactory performance range of 0.56 to 0.68, or "yellow zone" performance.

Rapid attention is needed for perinatal asphyxia prevention and management through improved capacity building of the health functionaries and community-based interventions to enhance the intended beneficiaries' awareness level. SQCI is an effective instrument for raising the quality of newborn care in India and needs to be regularly analyzed.