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| The entrance to Sardar Vallabhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack Pictures by Badrika Nath Das |
Cuttack, Feb. 19: Parents of ailing children have to go through a harrowing time while getting their kids admitted to the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics, popularly known as Sishu Bhavan.
The thing that confronts them is non-availability of beds at the institute, considered one of the largest paediatric institutes in the eastern region of the country. Most of the parents have to wait for at least two to three days to get their kids admitted.
Sishu Bhavan functions with 250 beds. Sources said the patient turnout, however, here was much more than that. Hospital records indicate that the institute registered an attendance of 88,563 patients at the outpatient department in 2010-11 as against 87,130 patients in 2009-10.
“I had to wait for three days to seek a bed for my four-year-old son Naba Dey, who is suffering from stomach pain and urination problem,” said Binod Dey, a parent from Balasore.
Dey said non-availability of beds either at the general ward or the special pay ward delayed his son’s treatment.
“My son had earlier undergone a surgery at the same hospital when he was just nine months old. We are dependent on Sishu Bhavan because of the advanced treatment offered here,” Dey said.
A lot of patients visiting Sishu Bhavan are also referred to the SCB Medical College and Hospital.
“I came to Sishu Bhavan for my son’s treatment on Thursday. But, as there were no beds, the doctors referred us to SCB the next day,” said Uday Marandi, a parent from Baripada.
Hospital authorities said that adequate measures were being taken to provide quality treatment to the patients.
“Although there is 100 per cent bed-occupancy, we are trying our best to provide emergency care to the critically ill children,” said senior hospital administrator Kishore Chandra Pani.
However, Sishu Bhavan officials said that the problem could be solved only if the number of beds at the hospital is increased to 356. Such a proposal has already been made to the state government.