The Neonatology Department consists of a 24 bedded Level IIIB Tertiary care Neonatal Intensive Care Unit along with a 12-bedded Step-Down Nursery and an 8-bedded Rooming-in Ward. In addition, it runs High-Risk Follow Up OPD and a Well Baby OPD for both in-born and out-born babies. It provides medical care to the in-born babies in the postnatal wards and ensures routine Newborn Screening for all inborn babies for common diseases like congenital hypothyroidism, genetic disorders and deafness. The NICU provides intensive care to critically ill inborn neonates, both inborn and referred. Most of these are very premature and low birth weight babies. It has state-of-the-art equipment and technology to support the care of these high-risk babies. It works with Departments like High-Risk ObGy, Pediatric Surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, CTVS and Fetal Medicine in the care and follow-up of these high-risk babies. The average yearly admissions in the NICU are 1100-1300/ yr. The Department gets referrals from a wide area of coastal and adjoining districts of Karnataka, being one of the few Level IIB NICCUs in the state. The Department has the distinction of starting the first Human Breast Milk Bank in Udupi district and provides pasteurized safe donor milk to the preterm babies admitted in the NICU whose mothers cannot provide the same. The Department also practises Developmentally Supportive Care both during the NICU stay and on follow up to ensure the best possible neurodevelopmental outcomes for these babies. The dedicated effort of its Neonatologists, nurses and allied health staff ensures > 98% survival of admitted babies.

The NICU has state-of-the art facilities for caring for critically ill neonates including high-end ventilators, high frequency ventilation, Nitric Oxide Treatment and Whole-Body Cooling equipment for Therapeutic Hypothermia for Birth Asphyxia. It provides Parenteral Nutrition for babies unable to feed. It also has in-house investigative facilities like Amplitude Integrated EEG, Echocardiography, Neuro-sonography and Hearing Screening. There are also facilities for point of care investigations like blood gas analysis and glucose monitoring.