Newborn care unit of Jehanabad hospital yet to get specialists

JEHANABAD: The multi-crore newborn care unit, which was set up at the sadar hospital here with a view to minimizing the infant mortality rate in Jehanabad district, is yet to be provided with specialist doctors.
The unit, which was dedicated to the public in June this year, is currently being handled by inexperienced hospital nurses. Three doctors, who were deputed to work at the unit, are so much overworked with their own jobs at the sadar hospital that they hardly find any time to attend to the newborn patients at the unit.
In the absence of doctors, it is the general nurses who look after the sick newborn patients at the unit. A team of child specialists should have been on round-the-clock duty at the unit but due to dearth of doctors at the already overcrowded sadar hospital, the deputed doctors have no time to attend to the newborn patients at the unit.
Dr B K Jha, one of the doctors selected for deputation at the unit, said that he along with two others were imparted special training for being deputed to the unit. However, none of them were ever relieved by the hospital administration to move to the unit. "As we are already overworked with outdoor and emergency duties at the sadar hospital, it is difficult for us to spare time for the unit," he added.
Sadar hospital deputy superintendent Dr K K Roy said, "We are facing acute shortage of doctors at the sadar hospital. We have drawn the attention of the higher authorities towards the problem of understaffing of doctors at the sadar hospital. As soon as we get a set of additional doctors, we will relieve the team of specially trained doctors for deputation to the SNCU."