Prolonged neonatal interhospital transport on road: relevance for developing countries.

Objective: To compare prolonged inter hospital long distance transports on road undertaken by a qualified transport team vs those done by the same team from shorter distances and time.

Methods: Retrospective descriptive comparative study of the neonatal transports done during a period of 48 mo. All neonates transferred on road to a tertiary level pediatric hospital from various maternity and pediatric centers. The biochemical characteristics, adverse effects during transport and 24 hr survival after the transport in both the groups were compared.

Results: The babies were comparable in their gestational age and ventilatory requirements (46% vs 39%). The biochemical and metabolic characteristics and 24 hr mortality rates for babies who were transported for longer times and distances were comparable (p value =0.75) to those transported for shorter times.

Conclusion: Long distance neonatal transport on road is feasible and with a qualified team results can be comparable to those transported from shorter distances.