from
Christina Berndt
It’s only a little over half the time that’s actually allotted. But it can be enough: if a child has spent at least 22 of the usual 40 weeks in its mother’s womb, then it has a chance. During the past decades, the limit of the viability of premature babies could be brought forward, reported Andreas Flemmer, Head of Neonatology at the University of Munich Hospital, during a health forum of Süddeutsche Zeitung. Thanks to modern medicine, even premature babies born weighing less than 500 grams can now survive. To do this, however, these children have to be cared for intensively, over a long period of time and by specially trained staff. But that is precisely what threatens the future of the youngest premature babies: while technology advances, the human factor is missing. “No area in medicine is so blatantly affected by the lack of care as the premature and neonatal wards,” said Flemmer.