Dr. N. Santosh Kumar

Our baby was just a few days old and kept getting these strange, brief pauses in her breathing. Our local doctor was stumped. We rushed to Kamineni and met Dr. Santosh Kumar. He spent ages just watching her, asking us a million questions about the pregnancy. He suspected something with her brainstem, not her lungs, which no one else had considered. The scans proved him right. It was terrifying, but him having a clear path from day one made all the difference. We're home now, with a monitor, and she's doing okay.

Our son was born a bit early and needed a short stay in the NICU for jaundice. Honestly, we were braced for chaos, but it was surprisingly calm. Dr. Kumar explained the light therapy like he was telling us how a toaster works—simple and no drama. The nurses had a schedule and stuck to it. We got to hold him for feeds, and after two days, his numbers were fine and we left. It felt very straightforward, which is exactly what you want when everything else feels so new and scary.

The NICU at Kamineni is intense, obviously, but the people there made it bearable. The parking situation is a nightmare, I won't lie. But once inside, the night nurse, Lakshmi, would remember little things I'd told her about our family. Dr. Kumar's team always took a second to explain the monitor readings to my husband in a way he could understand. The place itself is clean and quiet, but it was those small, human moments that got us through the long days.

What I'll remember most about Dr. Kumar is how he talked to our baby. Our daughter was covered in wires, but he'd warm his stethoscope and call her by the name we'd chosen. He'd explain things to us while looking at her, saying 'She's telling us she needs a bit more help today.' It wasn't just medical care; it felt like he saw her as a person from the very first second. That respect, when we felt so helpless, meant more than any medicine.