Sishu Bhawan blues: Here, patients told to wait for op

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Cuttack: At a time when the state government is spending crores of rupees to improve healthcare facility, an emergency operation theatre (OT) at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics (Sishu Bhawan) here has been lying unused for the last 11 years.
The hospital authorities have been conducting emergency operations at the OTs of other specialised departments for last several years. As a result, patients admitted to these departments are being told to wait for some more days to get the operation facilities, sources said.
According to sources, Sishu Bhawan authorities had locked the emergency OT in 2007 due to shortage of modern equipment, anesthesia experts and other health staff. As per the guidelines of Medical Council of India (MCI), Sishu Bhawan authorities are bound to open the emergency OT round-the-clock to provide treatment to needy people.
“At present, the hospital authorities are conducting emergency operations at the OTs of specialised departments. Many patients admitted to these departments are being denied timely operations,” said a source.
It is learnt that doctors at the surgery department of Sishu Bhawan recently told four patients to wait for some days to get operated upon.
When contacted, surgery department in-charge PK Jena said they usually operate upon critically-ill persons on emergency basis. “No one is being denied treatment at our department,” he asserted.
Sishu Bhawan superintendent Saroj Sathpathy said people having minor health problems are advised to wait for a few days for operation. “The inflow of patients to the childcare hospital is rising day-by-day. We are trying to provide healthcare to all patients,” he claimed.
Hospital sources, meanwhile, claimed that Sishu Bhawan authorities have sent several letters to the Orissa Medical Corporation to provide necessary equipment to the emergency OT but to no avail. A few social activists have raised an apprehension that some patients might have been denied timely operation due to the closure of emergency OT at Sishu Bhawan. “As many as 2,062 children died at the hospital in last fiscal. We suspect that a few patients might have died due to denial of timely operation. Only, an impartial probe can bring truth to the fore,” said social activist Amiya Bhusan Biswal.