Neonatology

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: This is designed to provide the highest level of care available in Qatar. We can handle the most complex and serious neonatal emergencies, and we are equipped to respond quickly to any unforeseen circumstances and provide the highest level of care.
• Special Care Baby Unit: We are in the process of setting up a Special Care Baby Unit. This will be for babies who need a short stay for less complex neonatal care. Located next to the maternity ward, it will provide comprehensive and safe care for all newborns.

Our goal is to provide the best medical care for you and your baby, tailored to your medical needs.

Department highlights

• We can care for babies born at all gestational ages and with any medical or surgical disease. Experienced neonatologists with strong training and background are leading the care along with a multidisciplinary team of nurses, respiratory therapists and allied health.
• Neonatologists with hemodynamic expertise which supports critical care with regular echocardiographic assessments of the patients
• Offer the full range of pediatric medical and surgical sub-specialist services and pediatric anesthesiologists on site
• Perform complex surgical procedures to repair complex congenital or acquired conditions
• Offer a family-centered developmental approach for the babies and the families with single family rooms only on NICU.
• Trained staff in Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education Program (FINE) which enables supportive developmental care for all the babies and their families
• NICU is equipped with state-of-the-art devices such as electric velocimetry, near infrared spectroscopy, bedside echocardiography machines, amplitude-integrated electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ventilators.
• For discharged patients, we have specialized follow-up clinics. These are:
  • High-risk infant follow-up clinic where we assess the neurodevelopment of vulnerable neonates with a multidisciplinary team including neonatologists, nurses, physiotherapists, speech language therapists, occupational health therapists, and dieticians. Several screening tools are used along with an innovative screening tool for early intervention to assess spontaneous movements (GMA) supporting brain development.
  • NICU post-discharge clinic to make sure that any baby discharged from NICU is assessed by the NICU team a couple of days later. This is reassuring for the parents and improves a safe discharge process.

Programs available are led by experienced neonatologists:

• Delivery room and transitional care program for any severe antenatally diagnosed condition, prenatal follow-up. In case of a healthy or vulnerable neonate, we provide the care of the newborn baby next to the mother on the postnatal care unit to support couplet-care.
• Disease specific programs, for conditions such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia, short bowel syndrome, bladder extrophy and complex congenital conditions.
• Nutrition and breast-feeding program, – including parenteral nutrition that is modified appropriately to prevent and treat liver disease. The program continues to outpatient management with home parenteral nutrition.
• Extra Corporeal Life Support (ECLS) -Program for respiratory neonatal diseases
• Neonatal hemodynamics and transitional physiology program
• Micropremie program
• Neurocritical care and therapeutic hypothermia program
• Respiratory care program with ventilatory strategies specifically adapted to each patient
• Perinatal consult program
• Neurodevelopmental therapy and high-risk infant follow-up program

There is a robust quality and safety program with several key performance indicators and various quality improvement projects.
Our faculty is involved in multiple research projects from clinical to translational research and have been recipients of multiple peer review grants locally and internationally. There is also an ACGME-I (Accredited Graduate Medical Education International) certified Neonatology Fellowship Training program. Our program offers advance-training fellowships in neonatology, with focus on the care of the most complex neonates.

Conditions treated:

Respiratory

• Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia
• Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation
• Lung sequestration
• Meconium Aspiration Syndrome
• Persistent pulmonary hypertension

Sidra Medicine has facilities to offer Neonatal Respiratory ECMO where required

Cardiac

• Patent ductus arteriosis (PDA)
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• Transposition of great arteries
• Other non-cyonotic and cyanotic complex congenital heart diseases

Device closure of PDA and cardiac surgery for complex congenital heart disease is available

Gastroenterology

• Trache-esophageal fistula
• Gastroschisis
• Omphalocele
• Pyloric stenosis
• Bowel atresias
• Abdominal masses
• Ano-rectal malformations
• Biliary atresia
• Gastro-esophageal reflux
• Short bowel syndrome

Bowel lengthening surgery and facilities to provide total parenteral nutrition at home

Renal / urogenital

• Ambiguous genitalia
• Bladder Exstrophy
• Bladder outlet obstruction
• Renal malformations

Facilities to offer peritoneal / hemofiltration dialysis and renal transplant are available

Neurological

• Neonatal seizures
• Intraventricular hemorrhage
• Neonatal stroke
• Vein of Galen malformation (VGAM)
• Neonatal hypotonia
• Spina bifida
• Encephalocele
• Craniosynostosis

Facilities to offer therapeutic hypothermia, intraventricular irrigation, ventriculoperitoneal shunt and endovascular embolization for VGAM are available

ENT

• Complex upper and lower airway problems

Not only routine procedures like tracheostomy are performed but also offer procedures like jaw distraction, lower airway stenting

Ophthalmology

• Retinopathy of prematurity

Intravitreal injections and laser treatment are available

Musculoskeletal

• Achondroplasia
• VACTERL Association
• Genetic / Metabolic

Facilities to identify rare genetic/metabolic diseases through whole genome sequencing are available.