Background: Neonatal mortality is a very serious global public health issue that requires special attention, especially in Pakistan because of lower knowledge and limited resources provided for newborn units. Currently, researches on neonatal mortality are a requirement so that policymakers can focus on this area and work to rebuild comprehensive neonatal healthcare programs.

Objective: To assess the outcome of creating a Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in a tertiary care hospital

Methodology: This is an observational study conducted from July 2016 to June 2017 during the establishment of the SNCU at the Pediatric department of a tertiary care hospital. Study subjects were 121 and 726 newborn babies before and after the establishment of SNCU respectively. Baseline data for six months were compared with 6 months’ data of SNCU operation.

Results: A total of 847 neonates were admitted over a year including 488 (57.61%) males and 359 (42.38%) females, with a mean gestational age of 38.6 weeks (retrospective data) and 37.2 weeks (prospective data). There were 726 neonates admitted after the establishment of SNCU of which 681 (93.8%) were discharged and 45 (6.19%) expired. The reduction in Neonatal Mortality Rate after the implementation of SCNU was not statistically significant (p=0.06).

Conclusion: Although our results were not statistically significant. We observed an increase in admission rate which shows how much neonatal morbidity is there for which more similar setups are required. There is indeed an immediate need to rebuild a comprehensive care unit for neonates especially in our region.

Index Terms- Neonate, Birth Asphyxia, Neonatal Care, Sepsis; Mortality