Government drops plan to provide ventilator facility for infants

BATHINDA: In a major setback for Bathinda, the government has dropped its plan to provide the facility of ventilators for new born children and infants under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project at the Special Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) of the Bathinda Civil Hospital.

Special Neonatal Care Unit at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda. A File Photograph

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 23

In a major setback for Bathinda, the government has dropped its plan to provide the facility of ventilators for new born children and infants under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project at the Special Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) of the Bathinda Civil Hospital.

While speaking on the sidelines of the HPV Vaccination programme, Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary Health, said, “A team of the Health Department has evaluated all aspects of the project and decided that the government will not tie up with private hospitals. We have planned to boost the government sector by strengthening infrastructure, so that the poor can be benefited. There is no plan as of now to bring the ventilator facility at the SNCU, Bathinda, as patients can go to Faridkot Medical College and Hospital or to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala.”

“Recently, the government had allocated the funds to Faridkot Medical College and Hospital to boost its infrastructure. In order to provide the ventilator facility, the number of beds will also be increased from two to ten to provide there,” she added.

SNCU at the Civil Hospital has the highest admission rate of infants in the state. Earlier, patients used to go to nearest private hospital in Kotkapura. The hospital used to offer free treatment to poor children under the government’s PPP project for the ventilator facility.

The poor are now forced to bear costly treatment of private hospitals in the absence of this scheme at the Civil Hospital. SNCU Bathinda has a capacity for 12 patients to admit and it was setup in November 2012.

Under the PPP model, the government had then initiated and tied up with private hospitals to provide free ventilator facility for infants who are born with less than 1,200 gm of weight or suffering with breathing problem. The facility was being provided at CMC Ludhiana and Chandigarh Child Care Hospital in Kotkapura under the PPP model.

The private hospital at Kotkapura has a capacity of six ventilator beds, whereas the medical college at Faridkot has a capacity of only two beds.

A patient has to pay an amount of Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 per day for the ventilator facility in private hospitals in Bathinda or Kotkapura.

Out of around 140 admissions of infants every month at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda, there are around 12 patients who are referred to Kotkapura or Faridkot hospitals for the ventilator facility. The scheme under the PPP at private hospitals ended on September 6, 2013.

A pediatrician on the condition of anonymity said, “The mortality rate of infants went down with the provision of the ventilator facility being given in the private hospital at Kotkapura and the government hospital in Faridkot under the PPP model. The Bathinda hospital is under level II and we refer only those infants who have less than 1,200 gm of weight. The provision of a ventilator in our hospital can overcome all problems and would benefit the patients. The government should provide the ventilator facility to our hospital or it should promote the PPP model for the ventilator facility.”