90 beds for 20-lakh children: Welcome to GB Pant hospital
Already struggling with shortage of space, the bed capacity of GB Pant children’s hospital here has gone down to just 92 for pediatric care after the devastating deluge of September 2014.
After the flood severely damaged the ground floor of the hospital, the authorities shifted diagnostic and emergency facilities in three pediatric wards in its first floor, hitting its intake capacity as well as health-care.
Against the officially-claimed capacity of 130 beds for pediatric care, there are only 92 beds in three functional wards—Ward No 6, 7 and 10— to cater to population of around 20 lakh children in Kashmir.
While there are 30 beds in Ward No 6, Ward No 7 and Ward No 10 have in place 30 and 32 beds respectively.
No other ward in any floor of the hospital has been kept for admission of sick children.
Sources said after the flood wreaked havoc in the ground floor of the hospital, authorities decided to permanently shift blood bank, laboratory, X-ray room—which were housed in the ground floor—to the first floor.
While all radiology facilities including X-Ray and USG have now been shifted to Ward No 3— which used to be a pediatric ward—the laboratory and blood bank are functioning from ward No 4. This too was a pediatric ward prior to the floods.
The Emergency, which too would operate in ground floor before floods, is now operational from Ward No 2.
“Shifting of the facilities has indeed dealt a blow to the bed capacity of the institute. But there was no alternative as the ground floor has been declared unsafe for equipment and other facilities and also for running emergency. The condition of the ground floor is so bad that it is unsafe to operate new wards there and compensate the loss of space which resulted from shifting of the facilities to first floor,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.
As the shifting of facilities has ‘consumed’ space of the hospital, it has hit the normal functioning in the Emergency.
Two to three patients are forced to share one bed in the Emergency. Owing to the space crunch, the area (emergency) which could barely house 20 beds, has been forcibly fitted with 30 beds. There is hardly any space between the two beds to move forcing the attendants to sit on the beds with the patients, adding to the infection risk.
The scene of three patients and three mothers on a single bed is appalling in the emergency amid sweltering temperature with no ventilation.
Literally, the hospital has got reduced to three-ward institute for pediatric care today.
“The only way we can ensure better heath care for our future generation is by setting up a full-fledged children hospital,” a doctor said. “Look at the conditions in the ground floor, it still stinks.”
Nine months on, there is still no word from the authorities on restoring the flood-hit ground floor, which is taking toll on the status of health care in the hospital, struggling to cater to patient’s rush from 12-district Kashmir and some districts of Jammu region.
In 2010, two years after more than 500 children including newborns had died in the hospital allegedly for want of better treatment and acute shortage of facilities, the Government chalked a proposal to construct a full-fledged children hospital.
Five years later, when the child population of the Valley has grown to 20 lakh, the new hospital is still a plan on papers.
“If such a situation (500 deaths) won’t move the Government to set up a new hospital, what else would?” the senior doctor lamented. “We were already struggling for beds prior to flood. Now we have to manage in only half of the space.”
The hospital caters to 800-1000 patients in OPD every day. Of these, 70-80 patients are admitted on daily basis. Besides, the hospital receives around 100 newborns with different complications.
On an average a newborn receives treatment for 10 days and a pediatric for five in the hospital.
Apart from 92 beds for pediatrics, the hospital has a 10-bed Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre functioning under NRHM, 10-bed space for lactating mothers, 20 beds for maternity services and 10 bedded Isolation ward.
“These are not to be counted for in-patients pediatrics, though some of these facilities could be used in a better way given the patients rush the hospital witnesses,” said the doctor.
Principal Government Medical College (Srinagar), DrRafiq Ahmad Pampore acknowledged that space paucity was hitting functioning of the hospital.
“The inadequate space is an issue. Although we are trying hard to restore the ground floor, the recent experience of the floods and saturated water table in Sonwar is a concern,” the Principal said.
In 2006, the Government, for unknown reasons, shifted the hospital from HazuriBagh to present location in Sonwar.
The move dealt a big blow to the hospital as its bed strength was cut down from 175 to 130.
“Today we are struggling with only 90 beds and still the government is unmoved to show any progress on construction of new hospital,” said a senior official at the hospital.
