Srinagar, May 23: Dozens of infants admitted in the critical care wards of GB Pant Hospital here face a huge risk to their lives as lifesaving equipment installed in the wards are either poorly maintained or have turned defunct.
The situation in the critical care wards, Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), is terrible as the ventilators and baby warmers are in bad and unhygienic condition allegedly due to the callous approach of officials.
Sources told Greater Kashmir that no trained or technical person is present in the hospital to handle critical care machines like ventilators, baby warmers, neo-natal monitors for timely monitoring and maintenance.
“The improper functioning of such equipments can also be the major cause behind the death of babies,” they claimed.
While the government is taking some fire-fighting measures to revamp the healthcare system at the institute, the defunct and ‘dreadful’ machines have put a question mark on the official claims about the infant deaths.
In NICU section of the hospital, where babies are under incubation, ventilation and radiation therapies, the terrible condition of these life saving equipments is evident.
Insiders said machines in the ICU and other vital equipments installed in the hospital were not been maintained and serviced properly which, according to medicos, may prove fatal for the patients and may lead to death.
The ventilators installed in the ICU are in worst condition as the air filters (bacterial filters and humidifiers) have not been cleaned for long. “There is every chance of dust and bacteria directly entering into the patients’ lungs which can cause acute bronchitis,” the doctors said.
These ventilators were found with dirt and dusty filters, source of humidity providers were found without water which collectively may be the reason of deaths, the doctors said.
They said the pressure of oxygen should also be properly maintained. However, in absence of the specialized staff the patients are at high risk of airway burst, the medicos said.
In Ward No. 9, most of baby Radiant Warmers were not properly functioning. Some have display problem, some have got faulty sensors.
Every baby warmer that helps in curing hypothermia in the infants, are fitted with sensors for monitoring the body temperature of the patient continuously but the sensors are not functioning properly.
“Once it attains normal value it automatically disables the heating mechanism of the equipment. If the sensors don’t work the babies can get more heat (hyperthermia) and put their life to danger which can even lead to death,” said a bio-medical engineer.
“It is mandatory to have regular trainings and awareness about the advancements in the medical technology to the doctors and paramedical staff. But the situation at every critical care hospital including GB Pant is worst as the life saving equipments are not been serviced and monitored properly in absence of required bio-medical engineers,” said a doctor.
He said the authorities should take some immediate steps for inspection and regular check especially for these life saving equipments.
According to doctors once the patient is admitted in the hospital before getting the treatment the doctor advice the patient to go for tests with the help of some sophisticated machines and his life is depends on the results.
“If the results are correct his diagnosis is perfect but if we are leaving something behind by the performance of the machines then we are putting the life of patients at risk,” a medico said.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 IST