The children are generally taken to the hospital only when they are sick. However, a state hospital in Sultangazi, one of the suburbs of Istanbul, cares for them without being sick.
Sultangazi Haseki Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Child Health Follow-up Outpatient Clinic provides children up to the age of 5 nutrition, breastfeeding, sleep counseling, and vaccination services free of charge.
Outpatient clinic specialist Dr. Mahmut Caner Us told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they routinely follow up on the health of children.
"All children should benefit from this service. Following up on the mother and baby from the beginning of pregnancy is of great importance for raising healthy generations. For that, we are performing screening and routine follow-ups to focus on their condition," he said.
Explaining that they serve about 30 children a day in the clinic, "Babies are examined in the neonatal outpatient clinics in the first month after birth. From the first month, we start to monitor their health. Our priority is to ensure that children are only fed breast milk within the first six months. We also provide breastfeeding consultancy services simultaneously in our lactation and relaxation centers, which is integrated with our outpatient clinic," he said.
"In addition, we carry out routine and non-routine vaccination follow-ups of our children. Apart from that, all children who apply to our clinic are monitored for their weight, height, and head circumference growth," he added.
"If necessary, we provide nutritional counseling together with pediatric dietitians after breastfeeding. We also conduct detailed neurological development follow-ups of children during each examination," he said.
He also stated that they apply child development screening tests with the help of specialists, using structured tests at regular intervals.
"Children do not come to us when they are sick, but without being sick. To raise healthy generations, we keep our children in routine follow-ups before they become ill. We are evaluating them in advance so that they do not experience any problems. Also assessing the potential genetically transferred diseases, we carry our studies by involving all preventive services," he said.
Explaining that the well-being of the mother basically means the well-being of the baby, "The adverse environmental conditions exposed in the womb are also directly related to the well-being of the baby. Therefore, we aim to increase the well-being of the baby, starting from the period spent in the womb, with interventions that will protect the mother. In addition, we aim to increase our mothers' social support, reduce their anxiety, prevent depression, or ensure that they are diagnosed early," he said.
Underlining that it is important for children to benefit from preventive health services without getting sick, he emphasized that all children under age 5 should visit the clinic.