Non-functional ACs add to kids’ pain at PGI

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 29

Already fighting pain, fear and anxiety, patients at the Advanced Paediatric Centre (APC) of the PGI are being made to suffer the additional agony of heat, humidity and the resultant foul odour of countless human bodies due to lack of air conditioning.

Over 12 surgeries and 350 patients are being affected everyday as the air conditioning plant of the APC has been out of order for a week now.

According to sources, services in the APC have been severely hit over the past one week as the air conditioners in the entire building are not working.

“All services, including surgeries, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and OPDs, have been hit due to the breakdown,” said an official on condition of anonymity. 

However, the Head of Paediatric Surgery, Dr KLN Rao, denied that surgeries had been affected due to the breakdown of the AC plant.

“Inconvenience, yes; we are all suffering. But not a single surgery has been affected,” Dr Rao said.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Dr Pratibha Singhi, Head, Department of Paediatric Medicine, PGI, said the ACs had been non-functional for a week, causing inconvenience to patients and staff.

“The Engineering Department will be able to tell you the reason behind the breakdown as well as the day the plant gets functional,” said Dr Singhi, adding that she was not aware about surgeries as she did not handle these.

She said patients had been suffering a lot, but she had not received any complaint directly so far.

“My seven-year-old nephew broke his leg last week. He was experiencing immense pain; so we came to the Emergency today. The foul smell in the room and humidity made it difficult for us to stand there for even 15 minutes,” said Parampreet Kaur from Sohana. 

She said children admitted to the Emergency were already ill and in a lot of pain, which was being compounded by the lack of air conditioning.

The advanced paediatric centre is a multi-specialty 300-bedded hospital for children, including several specialties. It houses neonatal intensive care unit and paediatric intensive care unit, providing life support and artificial ventilation to babies and children. There is a separate 24-hour emergency service also. This centre also houses surgical specialties for children such as paediatric surgery and paediatric orthopaedics.

Despite repeated attempts, the Superintending Hospital Engineer could not be contacted for comments.