The high rate of death of infants in the paediatric ward rocked the General Hospital once again. Last month 109 infants died while undergoing treatment in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
On Tuesday, eight infants died on a single night causing commotion among the parents and attendants.
Doctors manning the ward, said heavy flow of patients was one of the reasons for the high rate of mortality. The NICU has been sanctioned 20 beds and the paediatric unit 12 beds. However, on the particular day, 72 infants were admitted to the ward.
The local private hospitals too referred the complicated cases to the General Hospital at the dead of the night. Since the General Hospital can not turn away any case, all cases were admitted irrespective of the condition.
The Hospital Management also came under criticism for not enhancing the infrastructure in tune with the demand and flow of patients. Only six ventilators were functioning for 72 beds while almost 50 per cent of patients required ventilator support. The flow of patients increased due to sudden spurt in viral infections.
Patients have been coming from Kurnool as well as several neighbouring districts with the hope of better treatment but the inadequate infrastructure and poor staffing pattern was unable to contain the high mortality rate .
