List of Firsts

List of Firsts
Dr. Rajiv was the first to introduce advanced neonatal care to Kerala in 1993 and the concept of corporate superspeciality Hospital in this region .
As Head of Newbom Intensive care in PVS Memorial Hospital . He was the first to save a 500 gm baby born of 22 1/2 weeks gestation in India .
Subsequently he introduced High Frequency Ventilation in Kerala in 1997 and was one of the first to perfect this complicated form of ventilation in India -
He was invited by Mr. Vijaya Mallya of UB group to start the NICU in Apollo JMallya Hospital , Bangalore . He was again the first to start High Frequency Ventilation in Kamataka. Currently he is introducing advanced facility in Newborn Care possibly not yet introduced in India namely Nitric Oxide Therapy for Pulmonary Hypertension and eventually ECMO.
The application of respiratory mechanics monitoring with all the above mentioned technology would place it in par with any university hospital in the U.S. This department will be the most technologically advanced neonatal intensive unit in the country.
Dr. Rajiv was the first to introduce transport ambulance facility with portable ventilator in Kerala . In the future , air ambulance facilities are being worked upon to airlift critical" babies to AIMS by helicopter ambulance . Dr. Rajiv was the first to successfully use Sildenafil Citrate commonly known as Viagra to treat a potentially fatal condition called pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, which is usually a consequence of delivery related oxygen lack (birth asphyxia).

Extra Curricular Achievements
1.Recipient of the "certificate of exemplary performance" from the Head of the Department of Perinatal Medicine, West Mead Hospital, Sydney.

2.Recipient of the "Outstanding Young Person-Zone Level Award" for the year l995 from the India Junior Chamber, Cochin, for his outstanding contribution to medical science.

3.Member of the Editorial Board of the National Neonatology Forum's ( NNF) publication (1994)

4.Member of the Ventilatory Panel of the National Neonatology

Books And Chapters On Newborn Intensive Care (BOOKS AS CO AUTHOR)
Hand book of "Infection Control Policies and Procedures in NICU". 1998 "Neonatology, principles and practice", Dipak K Gupta Second Edn. 1998 Co-author of two chapters - Chapter No. 49 Respiratory disorders and chapter 50 Oxygen therapy.