Staff at Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital, the only children’s hospital in Jammu that caters to all 10 districts of the division has started pulling its socks to deal with any exigency. In the new pediatric block, which has three wards with 46 beds each, the hospital management plans to have 20 intensive care unit Covid beds in each ward.
One should be faster than the virus, so government authorities are making sure that no delay should be made and have been speeding up the facilities in children’ s hospital.
SMGS Hospital medical superintendent Dr Dara Singh said, “All machinery has arrived and civil and mechanical work has begun. Beds in all paediatrics wards are being connected with high-flow oxygen. Similarly, 20 intensive care unit (ICU) beds with ventilators will be installed.”
On adding he said that that the hospital authorities have apprised the government the manpower requirement. “For starters, we have asked for 50 nurses, 50 nursing orderlies and 25 sweepers. If the workload increases, manpower will be increased accordingly. Also, Being a paediatric hospital, we are preparing ourselves for the possibility that the third may affect children,” he said.
Dr. Singh informed that hospital already has a 500 LMP oxygen generation plant and now authorities have also sanctioned a new oxygen plant of 3,000 LPM ( litres per minute) to augment the supply which will be installed in a week or two. “The 46 bedded Ward 19 has already been identified for paediatric Covid patients and we can augment 140 additional beds, if required,” he said.
As of now the hospital has four ICU wards with 16 ventilators. Currently, paediatric Covid patients are being treated at MCH Gandhi Nagar Hospital. Also, Financial commissioner, health and medical education, Atal Dulloo has asked executing agencies to speed the work and complete it at the earliest.
