The paediatrics department of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack

Cuttack, July 26: Orissa High Court has refused to vacate its interim order imposing restrictions on the merger of paediatric ward of SCB Medical College and Hospital with the Sardar Vallavbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatric Studies, popularly known as Sishu Bhavan, here.

The matter came up during the personal appearance of chief secretary Bijay Patnaik and health secretary Pradipta Mohapatra in high court on Wednesday in connection with the delay in filling up posts of assistant professors in the three government-run medical colleges of Odisha.

The merger plan had hit a roadblock with the high court issuing a stay order on it on July 18. The Odisha government had decided to merge the SCB’s 60-bed paediatric ward with the Sishu Bhavan, thereby increasing the latter’s total bed capacity to 340.

The Odisha government had planned that Sishu Bhavan would receive all the paediatric cases from August 1.

The court had imposed the restriction on a petition filed by S.H. Ali Rizwan seeking intervention against the merger plan alleging that the government was “whimsically” enforcing the merger “without prior homework/survey and approval of the Medical Council of India.

The Odisha health and family welfare department stated that the objective behind the merger was to convert Sishu Bhavan into a leading advanced multi-speciality paediatric healthcare centre in eastern India.

“While considering the question of vacating the stay order during hearing, the division bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice Indrajit Mahanty directed the Odisha government to first show to the court that Sishu Bhavan had necessary infrastructure as well as equipment for carrying out treatment of the additional patients from the paediatric ward of the SCB,” said petitioner counsel Jaydip Pal.

The court had clarified that admission and treatment of paediatric patients at SCB was to continue with all necessary staff working in the department till further order.

The high court had earlier directed to extend the paediatric ward further and start an outdoor-cum-casualty wing where sick patients could be attended without any delay.

On the other hand, the high court constituted advocates’ committee on health services opposed the merger plan contending that critical patients undergoing treatment at SCB could not be treated at Sishu Bhavan.

Most critical patients are referred to SCB from Sishu Bhavan as the latter does not have super-specialty facilities.

“Sishu Bhavan lacks multi-specialty departments such as cardiology, neurosurgery, endocrinology and nephrology. Moreover, it is suffering from problems such as shortage of space, inadequate doctors, insufficient number of anaesthesiologists and lack of equipment. In the absence of these facilities, how can the authorities ensure proper treatment of children at Sishu Bhavan?” said Pravat Ranjan Dash, a member of the advocates’ committee.