Srinagar, Apr 25: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the G B Pant hospital, the only children hospital in the Valley, here is unable to cater to the huge rush of patients. The vital ICU has only 14 beds, which includes four Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) beds.
 “Government has failed to upgrade the ICU due to which there has been an alarming increase in the death rate of neonates. At least seven children died during the intervening night of April 21 and 22 due to lack of proper healthcare in the institute,” sources told Greater Kashmir on Monday.
 “Due to the lack of equipments and beds in the ICU morality rate is increasing with each passing day. At an average 40 patients are admitted in the ICU everyday,” said a doctor wishing not to be named. “Around 150 patients are brought to the hospital everyday for admission. The flow of patients is so huge that at least 2-3 critical patients have to share one bed,” the doctor added.
 The bed strength, according to the doctors, should be rationalized. “Inadequate staff, lack of equipments, dearth of doctors and paramedic staff also put lives of patients at stake,” they said. 
 “Two beds should have one trained nurse for 8-hours while against this only 6-nurses manage the affairs during the daytime. In night shifts only one doctor remains there with three paramedic staffers,” revealed hospital insiders.
 They said the hospital doesn’t have adequate budget allocation for the ICU which hampers its functioning. “Hospital administration should sanction separate budget for running this ward,” insiders added.
 When contacted Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr Kaiser asserted the lack of space and huge flow of patients was hitting the patient care. “The ratio of beds and patients is 1:3. We can’t deny admission to patients. To tackle this situation we need a separate paediatric hospital,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST