Odisha Min assures action against erring Sishu Bhawan staff

Odisha Health minister Atanu Sabysachi Nayak today assured that stringent actions will be taken against the Sishu Bhawan staff if anyone was found responsible for the child deaths in the paediatric hospital.
Nayak yesterday had set up a high-level technical team under the leadership of DMET to verify the causes of each death recorded at the hospital since last Friday.
During the last five days, the hospital has witnessed at least 30 deaths of newborns, including two today.
The minister visited the hospital today and said the infrastructure and staff shortage would be looked into soon.
"The SNCU (Special Newborn Care Unit) bed strength will be increased to 36 from 26 and the vacant doctors and paramedics positions will be filled up soon," Nayak said adding, Rs ten crore has already been sanctioned to improve the hospital infrastructure.

Against 48 sanctioned posts, the hospital was working with only 20 doctors, while 11 posts of assistant paediatric professors and nine senior resident positions were lying vacant. The hospital also faces a severe shortage of paramedics.
In the meantime, the Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) P C Mohapatra, along with a professor each from the SCB Medical College and AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, visited Sishu Bhawan today and conducted initial inquiries about the causes of the recent child deaths.
The team would submit its report to the next week.