Delhi’s govt children hospital to expand

NEW DELHI: With the addition of beds, ICU facilities, better equipped surgical departments and neonatal care, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalay is soon going to expand its pediatric care facilities.
The dedicated children’s hospital under Delhi government is getting a new block, which was initially planned to be developed as a dedicated Covid hospital after the second wave last year.However, since there was no surge in infection, the new building was allotted for the hospital’s expansion.
Dr Urmila Jhamb, its director, said, “We will increase the facilities over time. The expansion of departments and beds are in the pipeline. The initial focus is on a huge pediatric ICU and cardiothoracic surgery, which are the need of the hour. Most children with congenital issues find it difficult to get admission in other government hospitals.”
The super-specialty hospital located in Geeta Colony provides comprehensive medical care for all pediatric-related medical and surgical illnesses under one roof. Spread across 1.6 hectares, it is also being developed as a postgraduate teaching and training institute.
“Trauma care services and neuro surgery have also been planned. The new building with 600 beds will allow for huge expansion. Out of these, 50-60 beds will be reserved for ICU and another 50-60 for NICU. We are also upgrading radiology services and ventilators. We have procured ECO and digital X-ray machines and are working towards purchasing a CT-MRI machine. Our current bed strength is 250. We are increasing the academic seats from four pediatric MD seats to 10, apart from two MCH surgery seats,” said Jhamb.
The hospital sees 1,600-1,700 children daily in the OPD, 200-300 in emergency and 40-50 admissions. Currently, the hospital provides special services in pediatric, gastroenterology, neurotology, nephrology with pediatric dialysis and neurology. Psychologists are also present to take care of children and provide certificates to specially abled ones.
“Our OPDs mostly see cases of diarrhea, upper respiratory problems, skin issues and fever. Admissions are usually done for heart-related problems and congenital abnormalities. We have pediatric ophthalmology, a dedicated ENT, orthopedics and a reasonably large department of pediatric surgeries. Neonatal surgeries are not carried out elsewhere, so we see a good number of patients at our facility,” Jhamb said.
Construction is likely to get over in the next few months and the block is expected to start by the year-end. The only hindrance is shortage of medical staff. The facility currently has a vacancy of around 17 posts of faculty members, apart from junior and senior residents.