Bhubaneswar, Sept. 1: The state government today suspended six staff members, including two nurses, three attendants and a peon of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics, popularly known as Sishu Bhavan, for dereliction of duties in the wake of uproar over mounting infant deaths at the premier institute.

An FIR was also lodged against three nurses of the hospital. As many as 56 infant deaths have been reported at Sishu Bhavan in the past 13 days. The state government also appointed another seven resident doctors at the hospital.

The Opposition has been demanding the resignation of health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak. Senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra today announced his party's plan to organise a statewide agitation on September 2 with demonstrations in all blocks.

On the other hand, Nayak appealed to the people not to politicise the issue as all steps were being taken to check the infant mortality rate. With efforts on to ascertain the reasons for rising casualties at the hospital, the Centre has announced that it would send an expert team to assist the state government in strengthening its health care system.

Health secretary Arati Ahuja today held a review meeting where it was decided to strengthen health care at the three medical college hospitals of the state and to galvanise the ambulance service to ensure that children, who need treatment, arrive at the hospitals in time. The ambulances will have necessary equipment. National Rural Health Mission director Rupa Mishra also attended the meeting.

In another move, the Cuttack district administration geared up to restore confidence among the patients and their attendants by setting up a special Help You Desk at Sishu Bhavan. The desk will assist patients as well as their attendants in getting hassle free treatment.

"The district administration had approached us to manage the help desk and we have deployed around eight volunteers to assist the attendants of the patients round the clock," said social activist Prakash Rao.

Rao said students from various educational institutions were helping the Sishu Bhavan authorities to restore confidence among the patients. There has been a drop of 30 to 40 per cent in the patient inflow since the controversy broke with an average of 120 to 140 patients visiting the OPD per day.

In another development, an expert committee, led by Dr Arbinda Mohanty, which had visited the Sishu Bhavan last Friday, today submitted its report to the government with recommendations for improvement in services at the hospital.

Secretary of the Indian Paediatric Association (Odisha branch) Dr Arjit Mohapatra said: "We have recommended a number of measures, including increase in number of ICU beds, availability of essential drugs at reasonable cost, rationalisation of perinatal care and involvement of professionals in checking infant morality across the state."