Bhubaneswar, Dec. 29: An intensive care unit (ICU) for children aged between 1 and 14 years would come up at Capital Hospital here.
The paediatric ICU is aimed at lessening the number of referrals from the hospital to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. The need for such a facility was felt as the hospital only has a sick newborn care unit (SNCU) that treats babies up to one month old.
The paediatric ward of the hospital that was shifted last year to a new building has 50 beds for inpatients. The SNCU at the facility has beds for as many as 10 children. In case of emergency, the patients are referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
The paediatric ICU would have seven beds with ventilators. Three doctors from the hospital have already been trained for the ICU that would also have nurses and respiratory therapists specially trained in paediatric intensive care. At present, barring two private hospitals, no government hospital, including All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has a paediatric intensive care unit.
A mini laboratory with arterial blood gas, electrolyte, blood sugar, urea, creatinine, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, complete blood count and urine examination with gram stain is proposed to be set up adjacent to the paediatric ICU that would be set up in paediatric ward of the hospital.
The National Health Mission (NHM) would fund and also set up the facility. Sources said the location of the upcoming paediatric ICU has not yet been finalised, but it will be situated in the paediatric ward of the hospital for seamless operation.
The hospital's paediatric ward also has a day-care centre for thalassemia patients. It was opened on January 23, 2014. The 12-bed facility is the first-of-its-kind in the state. Blood transfusion, a process that thalassemia patients need to undergo on a regular basis, can be performed here.
Sishu Bhavan in Bhubaneswar is the only government health care facility for children in the city. However, it offers only outdoor treatment. N.C. Mohanty, a retired paramilitary paediatrician who has worked in paediatric ICU, said although the proposed facility would be a welcome step, it should be maintained properly.
"Patients from not only within the city, but from neighbouring districts come to the hospital for advanced treatment. Paediatric ICUs are complex in nature and requires 24X7 monitoring," he said.
The paediatric ward of the hospital always faces the problem of overcrowding. "In such circumstances, the ICU in-charge should be able to ascertain whether the patient can be referred or needs urgent admission at the hospital," Mohanty said.
B.B. Patnaik, the director of Capital Hospital, said with the new facility, the hospital would be one of the best for paediatric care in the state capital. He added that once the location was finalised, work on the facility would start.
