Special neo-natal care unit (SNCU) at Rourkela Government Hospital. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, Nov. 9: The Special Neo-natal Care Unit (SNCU) at the Rourkela Government Hospital is plagued by acute space problem, manpower crunch and lack of adequate instruments.

“We are suffering due to severe space crunch and at present have only twelve radiant warmer, where as sometimes we have to cater to double of that”, said Prasant Patra, nodal officer of the unit.

When The Telegraph visited the unit recently, there were 21 infants admitted there out of which four were in critical condition. Barring those warmers, where the critically ill infants were admitted, all the other warmers had double, and one had even triple occupancy. “We are always on our toes here as you treat infants. They cannot speak and go through great pain,” said Patra.

At present the strength of the unit is for twelve infants, whose maximum age should not be more than 28 days and is being managed by 9 properly trained paramedics as against the sanctioned strength of 12 along with four doctors. “We are forced to accommodate more infants since we cannot say no to any parents,” said Patra.

The unit treats infants for all kinds of complexities, but most babies that arrive here have premature delivery, low body weight, jaundice and asphyxia.

Chief district medical office Barish Kumar Das said he was aware of all the problems and risks but like most government officials, he too was helpless. “We have informed this to the government repeatedly. Our first thrust has been on space crunch and then there are problems with infrastructure and logistics,” said Das.

The unit requires more numbers of radiant warmers, ventilators and waiting rooms for the eager parents and a breast-feeding room that will allow privacy to the mother and child. “We do not have ventilators here and for the machine to remain functional one requires more fully-trained staff. Babies have to be shifted for lack of ventilators,” said Das. Sanjay Munda, who had come all the way from Simdega in Jharkhand, said: “How can a mother breast-feed her baby in full public glare? The authorities should think about this. ”

During a recent visit to the unit, the director of National Health Mission, Rupa Mishra, had been briefed about the problems and she had also promised to look into the requirements. Expansion is of urgent necessity for the unit, which caters to patients from neighbouring states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.