Myelomeningocele (MMC) infants in india

In India, MMC is an unrecognized health scourge that affects around 4 out of 1000 live deliveries. With a massive population, Indian sees a very large number of children born with MMC.

Due to a variety of socio-economic reasons, the number of MMC patients in India is several times higher than the global average.

Despite the large number of MMC patients, India lacks a dedicated medical facility to deal with MMC.

Typically, the MMC patients and their relatives lack adequate information, qualified guidance and the resource to get specialist medical care. Often, the MMC afflicted are from an underprivileged background and the required medical treatment is beyond their reach.

In India, awareness for MMC is not common knowledge, even amongst the healthcare professionals. Scanty information is available about MMC and its practical treatment in the public domain.

MMC is easily preventable with adequate nutrition during the gestation period, pre-natal scans, specialist monitoring and pregnancy management

MMC patient require care and counselling in a variety of medical disciplines. They also need specialist medical care to function independently and integrate with the society.

Ultrasound scans can clearly detect a spinal defect. If the foetus has spinal defects, a medical termination of pregnancy is only possible in the early part of the gestation, due to India’s strict medico-legal norms.