Years on, Children’s Hospital at Bemina still in its infancy

Srinagar, Feb 14: For decades Kashmir awaited a full-fledged and fully equipped Pediatric Hospital to cater to the healthcare needs of its 19 lakh children. The 500-bedded Children Hospital at Bemina that promised to provide every pediatric specialty and super specialty under one roof now awaits staff to deliver.

Across the length and breadth of Kashmir, the dearth of Pediatricians has been a major concern, especially with district hospitals struggling with pediatric cases that require specialised treatment. Most patients get referred to the Pediatric Hospital Bemina which caters to all districts of Kashmir and upto Rajouri and other districts. The hospital has 14 Pediatric Specialties meant to treat pediatric illnesses with precision and expertise that specialties bring. These include pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric nephrology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric ophthalmology, pediatric surgery, pediatric microbiology, pediatric hematology, radiology, pathology, pediatric neurology, pediatric anesthesia and neonatology, among more.

However, most of these departments have not started functioning or function in a rudimentary state. The hospital was conceived as an umbrella institute for the complex pediatric cases and offer advanced diagnostic and treatment options. In absence of these, many pediatric patients have a compromised quality of life and sometimes higher mortality. Many families are forced to seek private healthcare providers in and outside J&K. Stakeholders have expressed need to expedite filling up of vacant positions in order to deliver better care to young ones and provide them with optimum chances of a healthy and long life.

Starting with Pediatric cardiology, five faculty positions have been sanctioned for the hospital, designed to diagnose and treat heart ailments among children. These include congenital heart defects which could prove fatal, hole in heart, pediatric arrhythmias, heart valve problems and other serious conditions. However, the department has all the positions vacant, resulting in a serious compromise in pediatric patient care and prospects of a healthy life with those afflicted with these conditions.

Thousands of children are born premature, with low birth weight and with respiratory conditions. These babies require a specialist who has trained in critical care of the newborns, and bolstering their chances of survival. At Children Hospital, of the 11 sanctioned positions in the department of neonatology, only two Senior Residents are on roils, the remaining positions of professor, associate professor and others are vacant, thus making even this critical department one among those that runs on crutches and without required expertise.

Pediatric Ophthalmology, the hospital has a set-up and equipment but not a single faculty member. One post of professor and one post of assistant professors are sanctioned but remain vacant. Thousands of children with congenital vision issues like crossed eyes, lazy eye, congenital cataracts, droopy eyelid, eye cancers and more have nowhere to go except the private sector. The private eye-care sector remains unaffordable to a majority of patients.

Most other super-specialty departments suffer the same fate. On the auxiliary front also, the hospital faces serious shortages: 252 posts of paramedic, nursing staff, technical staff and supportive staff are vacant at the hospital. The information was revealed recently by the hospital in response to an RTI query.

With 27 percent of population classified as under-14, Kashmir has approximately 18 lakh children as per Census 2011.

The hospital has 14 Pediatric Specialties meant to treat pediatric illnesses with precision and expertise that specialties bring. These include pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric nephrology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric ophthalmology, pediatric surgery, pediatric microbiology, pediatric hematology, radiology, pathology, pediatric neurology, pediatric anesthesia and neonatology, among more. However, most of these departments have not started functioning or function in a rudimentary state.