Sassoon Hospital is a large state-run hospital in Pune, established in 1867 and caters daily to thousands of patients from lower economic backgrounds. Through our support, the paediatric malnutrition ward was commissioned under the leadership of Dr. Arti Kinaikar, to cater to the need to provide in-patient care for children from Pune and the surrounding rural areas, to bring them to normal nutrition levels. Mothers and caregivers are also trained to prevent malnutrition from recurring once they return to their villages.

Our ongoing support for equipment led to an upgrade in the facilities of the paediatric ward for special attention towards prematurely born infants who need advanced neonatal care. The equipment has saved the lives of hundreds of premature, malnourished and seriously ill babies.

The Nutrition Ward has treated severely malnourished children, including those with HIV and TB. The mortality rate has gone down by nearly 80–90% and many mothers have been trained in nutrition concepts. Being the only such centre across 14 medical colleges in the state, over 400 medical doctors, nutritionists and nurses have been intensively trained here in the field of paediatric nutrition as per WHO and Government of India Guidelines.