Chennai: The Institute of Child Health saved the lives of two children, who were brought with the ‘respiratory arrest’ condition last week. V. Linga Deep, a one-and-half-year-old boy from Thiruverkadu, accidentally fell from the first floor of his house on December 8. “He was brought to the hospital after an hour’s travel with no first aid.

He was not breathing and was unconscious,” says Dr S Indumathy, head of the department of paediatric emergency medicine. The child was also found to have suffered injuries in the brain. The ‘golden hour’ management team in the hospital moved in, the boy recovered within 48 hours, paralysis to the legs and hands being prevented due to the intensive treatment, she adds.

The hospital received another patient the next day with respiratory arrest. The 12-year-old boy, V Ellaiyan, from Pallipuram in Tiruvallur was bitten by a snake, which affected the oxygen supply to the brain, Dr Indumathy says. The boy also suffered from immobility of the eyelid and low blood pressure on arrival. With timely treatment he recovered in 72 hours.

The department of paediatric emergency medicine care, functioning at the institute since 1997, is witnessing new advancements in treatment methods. Only about 25 children in a usually severe condition out of the 300-400 trauma cases that the hospital receives cannot be saved, Dr Indumathy points out.