Patna, April 4: The intensive care unit (ICU) of Patna Medical College and Hospital is itself in urgent need of care. With most of its equipment defunct, the 15-bed facility in the emergency ward is hardly the right place to wheel in critically ill patients.

Of the 17 monitors installed in the ICU, only five are operational. Just four out of 17 infusion pumps function, while one ventilator out of six can be used. Blood pressure cuff attached with the beds do not work either. The centralised monitoring system, where details of all patients can be seen at one go is non-functional for years. Little wonder then, 90 per cent of the patients brought to the hospital in critical condition die.

Officials in the hospital administration struggled for words to give explanation for the lapses. “A few glitches are there but the situation is not very bad. In many cases, equipment are either very old or are not operated properly by the maintenance staff. So they run out of order,” said a senior authority in the hospital.

According to sources, the lack of logistics is the primary reason behind the loss of precious lives. A doctor of the ICU said most of the patients brought for emergency treatment need proper oxygen supply.

“If the ICU is in working condition patients can be kept on ventilator for proper supply of oxygen,” he said, adding 50 per cent of the patients can be saved if equipment are functional.

Anand Bhagat, an attendant of a patient undergoing treatment in the emergency ward of the hospital, said the pathetic condition of the ICU prompts shifting of critically ill patients to private nursing homes.

“Though none of my relatives was ever admitted there, I have seen so many people die that I wonder if the ICU is the death yard of the hospital. Only poor and downtrodden people, who cannot afford private nursing homes, admit their loved ones here. Unfortunately, the government and the hospital administration are doing nothing to improve the condition of the ICU,” he said.