Date:11/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/11/stories/2007111158880300.htm

Karnataka - Mangalore

Inauguration of children’s hospital to be further delayed

Sudipto Mondal

It was originally scheduled to be opened on November 14

Workers are trying to fix the leaks on the roof
At present the hospital has no nursing staff

Treatment: Workers trying to strengthen the leaking roof of the Regional Advanced Paediatric Care Centre in Mangalore (left), Damaged interiors of the centre.

MANGALORE: The Infosys Advanced Paediatric Care Centre at the Government Wenlock Hospital here will not be opened to the public on November 14, Children’s Day, as promised. The eerie silence that prevails at the Rs. 5.25-crore building will be replaced by the cackle of children only by the end of this month, or even as late as early December Confirming this, District Surgeon J. Prabhudeva expressed disappointment at the delay and anguish over what he termed “unavoidable and inordinate circumstances”. He said that a combination of factors had led to the delay. Firstly, the political instability in the State seems to have thrown a spanner in the works and slowed down the administrative machinery. The building itself has developed some leaks and a group of workers can be seen working overtime to fix the leaks by redoing the waterproofing work on the roof.

Shantaram Baliga, professor of paediatrics, Kasturba Medical College (KMC), who has been in the thick of things on the project, said, “It is better that the leaks have been discovered now. It would have posed a great hazard if it had developed after the hospital’s opening.” There is also some sundry equipment, worth close to Rs. 45 lakh, that is yet to be procured.

The children’s hospital needs 57 nursing staff, and at the moment it has none. Although 500 more nurses are being recruited by the Government, it is still unclear as to how many of them will be appointed to this centre. “The Kasturba Medical College is supplying us with 50 final-year B.Sc. Nursing students. They will be a great help but we still need sufficient senior nursing staff to lead them. In any case, the problem of this shortage may be tackled only temporarily,” says Dr. Prabhudeva. Despite the delay, Dr. Baliga’s is excited about the project and expressed his satisfaction over the equipment that has been procured. “We have managed to get the very best. We are mulling over a proposal to start an endoscope unit from the time of the hospital’s inception instead of adding it later.” The centre will be the first of its kind in South India and, once completed, it is expected to be a main referral centre for neonatal and paediatric care in 10 districts of Karnataka, and northern parts of Kerala. The hospital will be run and managed by the district administration.