Lok Nayak Hospital 
Introduction: Department of Neonatology
The Department of Neonatology was created as an independent Department in 2002 due to the untiring efforts of Prof. Siddarth Ramji, who was the first Head of Department of Neonatology and Prof. SK Mittal (the then Head of Pediatrics) The Department made its start with three faculty who were wholly dedicated to newborn care in the parent department of Pediatrics - Dr N B Mathur, Dr Siddarth Ramji and Dr Ajay Kumar Over time the Department has grown in stature and recognition and has been offering Super-specialty DM (Neonatology) training since 2015.
History:
A separate neonatal unit for care of sick inborn neonates existed under the Department of Pediatrics from the late 1960s. Prof. S. Thirupuram was the first full time faculty of Pediatrics for newborn care when she was appointed as a Lecturer in Pediatrics under the Post-partum program. She worked exclusively in the intramural newborn unit till her retirement. Newborn care for referred newborns was part of the Pediatric department services till it was created as an independent unit. In 2002, the Department of Neonatology was created by merging the inborn and Referral newborn care units of the Department of Pediatrics.
The Department then progressed milestone by milestone in the able guidance and constant efforts of the three dedicated Neonatologists; Dr N B Mathur, Dr Siddharth Ramji and Dr Ajay Kumar. The increasing load of the newborns to be cared demanded need for more faculty within the Department. In the initial years, the humble extend of helping hands by the Heads of Department of Pediatrics; Dr A P Dubey, Dr Sangeeta Yadav, Dr Urmila Jhamb cannot be undermined whenever needed.Dr Ramesh Agarwal, Dr Pradeep Sharma , Dr Neeraj Gupta and Dr Manoj Modi (DNB SGRH) joined as faculty and contributed loads to the quality functionality and the training in the Department, these primed the Department to start the DM courses in the coming time.In 2014, Dr Ashish Jain a dedicated trained Neonatologist, a DM (Neonatology) from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, one of the early fleet of DMs in the country joined the Department with full enthusiasm and added strength to the Department. The milestone to encadre the posts in CHS for sustaining the faculty was achieved in 2014 so that regular UPSC appointments could be made. Also , 9 posts of SR (Neonatology) were created at the same time .
The able guidance and pursuance of Dr N B Mathur, who was then Head of the Department culminated into the inspection to start the DM (Neonatology) course in the Department, and the first batch was admitted in August 2015. All, the four faculty quickly took the quality training of the DM to the best national standards, and the first batch confidentially passed their exams with good performance.In 2016, Dr Vijay Gupta and Dr Abhishek Chopra joined the Department as Assistant Professor (Neonatology).Both of the young and enthusiastic faculty were able in their own ways, and during their time, the Department had no limits to the progress in terms of clinical care and research with the faculty number in its most replete.
In 2018, Dr Ajay Kumar took over as the Head of Department of Neonatology. He being a man of stern principles, unmatched sincerity and dedication added to the pace of the progress of the Department. His ability of in-depth analysis of the issues and a systematic way for solutions kept no stone unturned in the progress of the Department. During this time, the ability of Dr Siddharth Ramji was recognized beyond the Department and he was the appointed as the MD, Lok Nayak Hospital and the Chairman PG training in the medical council of India (Now National Medical Council), which helped shape the training and boosted the recognition of the neonatology and the Neonatologists as a experts and epitome of dedication.
2018 to 2022 was an epoch that witnessed the renouncement and superannuation of the faculties from the Department, with Dr Vijay Gupta saying adios to the Department in 2018, and Dr Abhishek Chopra parting the family in 2018. This was followed by the superannuation of Dr N B Mathur in 2019 and Dr Siddharth Ramji in 2021 November. This, left the Department with 2 faculties, Dr Ajay Kumar and Dr Ashish Jain, who sustained the Department and faced every challenge to hold the repute and quality of the Department.
In 2023 Dr Ashish Jain, took over as the Head of the Department. The year also saw one of the alumina’s of the institution Dr Nidhi Jain joining as Assistant Professor (Neonatology). The current Department with 3 faculties with their own unique strengths is continually striving to achieve great heights carrying forward the ethos and the modesty seeded by the seniors.
Training
Dr Brajesh Jha and Dr Bijaylaxmi Behera joined as DM students in the year 2015. This was the first batch of DM Neonatology program at MAMC. Dr Brajesh Jha and Dr Bijaylaxmi Behera did their thesis on feeding in preterm babies and neonatal sepsis under supervision of Dr Siddarth Ramji and Dr NB Mathur respectively. Dr Bijaylaxmi is currently working as consultant Neonatology at Manipal Hospital , Dwarka and Dr Brajesh is a registrar Neonatology in Australia. Since then, 2 students each year enter this DM course. Currently, the fifth batch of DM students is due to appear for their DM exit exam.Every 2 monthly, 4 postgraduate students from pediatrics department are posted in neonatal units for training. In Addition the Depatment trains the Fellows NBE , High Risk Pregnancy , MCh Pediatric Surgery and Nursing Students .