Forty-five months have passed since the deadline for the special neonatal care unit project of the State Health Society, Bihar, lapsed but it is yet to see the light of day.

The project was launched in October 2010 and was supposed to be completed by February 2011.

Costly equipment such as Infant Radiant Warmers, to be used in the facility, have been rusting in the office of the deputy superintendent of sadar hospital, Munger.

The state government had mooted the idea of starting the special neonatal care unit on the campus of the Munger sadar hospital with the objective of saving the lives of babies born premature or with extremely low birth weight (less than 1500gm). It was also supposed to deal with cases of perinatal asphyxia, birth defects, neonatal jaundice and respiratory distress syndrome owing to immaturity of the lungs.

Munger civil surgeon Jawahar Prasad Singh said: “The project is near completion and its building is ready. But the unit has not become functional because the executing agency has not handed over the building to the district health society.”

Singh added that his office had sent several reminders to the executing agency but a reply was still awaited.

B. Sahu, an engineer at TCIL, the firm engaged in the construction work of the facility, said: “The agency would hand over the building to the district health society as soon as possible. My officer would reach Munger tomorrow (Tuesday) and do the needful.”

The facility after its opening would accommodate 15 patients at a time.

Rajesh Jain, president, Munger Chamber of Commerce, said: “The government is not serious about the welfare of newborns. The government only releases funds. It has no effective monitoring system that leads to the failure of such projects. The owners of the private neonatal care units charge Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 per newborn per day The government must make the Munger project operational soon.”