Srinagar, May 19: Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Saturday said the rising graph of infant death at the Valley’s sole children hospital, GB Pant, was “shameful.”
“It (deaths) is unfortunate. Such incidents can be thought of in far flung areas and villages. But it is a matter of shame that it is happening in the capital city,” Azad said in response to a question about the alarming situation at the hospital.
He along with the state Congress president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi were addressing media conference after one-day state-level convention of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) here at SKICC.
The GB Pant hospital here has witnessed more than 365 deaths since January this year. In March alone the number of deaths have been more than 105. Lack of facilities at the institute is believed to be one of the reasons for the high rate of deaths.
Azad asked National Conference led coalition government to pay attention towards the situation at the institute. “I will personally visit the hospital tomorrow,” Azad said.
In 2010, the GMC had sounded a caution to the government about dire need for construction of 400-bed capacity children hospital citing that the GB Pant has already crossed the limits to handle load of patients and number of referrals.
Against the capacity of 200 beds, only 135 beds are spared for children healthcare at the GB Pant, while 15 are meant for general surgeries, 15 for medicine and 35 for maternity.
Azad, who is former J&K Chief Minister, said soon after he took over the Health Ministry in the UPA-II he had allocated Rs 62 crore for construction of one each tertiary care institutes at Srinagar and Jammu.
At Srinagar, Azad said the land was identified for construction of the institute near the Hajj house at Bemina during his tenure as state Chief Minister.
“The land is available and the funds are available, the hospital has to be built by the state not us,” Azad expressed his displeasure at non-action by state on construction of hospital. “(When) there is no action (on part of the state government) on utilization of funds, the question of delay in implementation of the program does not arise.”
Facing criticism state government on Thursday attached the Medical Superintendent of the institute apart from having ordered one-man inquiry by Director SKIMS to probe cause of deaths.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday visited the hospital and termed the institutes’ condition as “grave” while assuring that his government would not allow further deterioration of the situation.
However there is no explanation from the government why was not the 2010 GMC report acted upon and why are not the funds allocated by the Union Health Ministry utilized for new pediatric hospital.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 IST