Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital can only refer critical dengue patients to other health hubs and is in no position to treat them owing to the absence of a blood component separator.

The device is used to separate platelet-rich plasma from blood. The machine was sanctioned for Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) in 2009 but now it has been shifted to Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, by the order of then health department principal secretary Vyasji.

The proposal to start the unit was prepared by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), a unit of World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco).

UNOPS had made available equipment, including two refrigerated centrifuge, two blood bank refrigerators with deep freezers of -80°C and -40°C, a platelet agitator and an incubator, in May, 2009.

A single-cell counter and a laminar airflow bench had to be made available. However, after the order of the principal secretary to shift the unit to IGIMS, the devices have been shifted to IGIMS on September 30. The platelet agitator and the incubator are lying at ANMCH.

When contacted, ANMCH superintendent Sitaram Prasad confirmed that the unit had been shifted to IGIMS.

He said a plot of 2,000sqft on the ANMCH campus had been earmarked for the unit as well. A proposal worth around Rs 32 lakh with technical sanction by the public works department was also sent to the Bihar Medical Services Infrastructure Corporation Limited, a copy of which was sent to the State Health Society, Bihar, in the first week of June 2013.

“Within the last fortnight, at least 10 cases of dengue had been referred to PMCH or other hospitals,” he added.

According to the emergency register of ANMCH, 10 patients — Juhi Praveen, Jainuddin, Raju Kumar, Pramod Kumar, Chandan Kumar, Sanjay Yadav, Mohan Paswan, Mohammad Mokhtar, Akhilesh Kumar and Sunil Kumar — were referred elsewhere from ANMCH in the past fortnight.

Lalan Kumar of Panchanpur and Niranjan Kumar of Amarut in Gaya were also referred to Patna from the clinic of Dr R.B. Singh.

“Lalan and Niranjan had come here from New Delhi. I had to refer them to Patna, as there was no facility here to separate platelets from the blood, which is necessary to in treating dengue,” Dr Singh said.