PESHAWAR: The newborn babies continue to suffer for want of quality treatment due to out-of-order incubators and shortage of staff at Khyber Teaching Hospital, according to sources.

They said that overstretched services at nursery ward of the hospital exposed children to infections.

“The child health department of KTH has received 6,000 patients for specialised services during the last six months but it has yet to develop its 35-bed nursery unit where prematurely-born children are hospitalized,” they added.

Sources said that incubators were required to keep children under specific temperature on the basis of their tests, weights and other medical evidence but more of them stayed in one incubator that exposed them to health hazards.

They said that four, out of total eight incubators, needed by 30 per cent of admitted babies requiring balanced temperature, were out of order. They said that the ward received 25 patients per day and required doubling its present staff from the existing10 nurses, one specialist and three medical officers. Bed-occupancy is 140 per cent, the highest among 35 wards of KTH.

Authorities say new machines being bought to ensure effective services

The department of child health at KTH sends trainee medical officers for 90-day training, required for examination by College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP).The hospital provides child health treatment round-the-clock and receives patients for specialised treatment also from Afghanistan.

The load of patients has been the main issue owing to which the 68-bedded two wards with 130 per cent bed occupancy rate receive 6,742 children during the last six months. The 12-bed intensive care unit for paediatric and neonates treated 2,253 patients in ICU.

Authorities, however, say that despite shortage of resources, the nursery and paediatric department extend all services to children coming from the whole province. There are plans to strengthen and expand services for child health at the hospital, which has a complete faculty, they add.

The authorities say that equipment and machines are being purchased to ensure effective services in line with new development in the area of medicines and number of increasing patients.

The Emergency Paediatric Services (EPS) had recently been shifted to newly-built Accident and Emergency Block. It was visited by more than 100,000 patients during the last six months. On average 212 critically-ill children require intravenous line for rehydration and essential services. It also receives 10 to 12 thalassaemia children for free blood transfusion.

Around 272 patients, visiting the OPD, are seen by paediatricians every day.

Pakistan Paediatrics Association (PPA) says that the issue of shortage of child health facilities in the province has been raised with the government time and again but still the main projects started exclusively for upgradation of paediatric services have not been completed despite lapse of over a decade.

The Khyber Institute of Child Health, started in 2005, has not been completed yet. Non-completion of children hospitals in Mardan and Charsadda and wrapping up of thalassaemia major project by the government have worried PPA, which wants the government to pay attention to the major child health projects where 90 per cent of the money has already spent.

Strengthening children wards in district level hospitals would facilitate people in their own areas and they would not be required to bring their children for common ailment to Peshawar, where one bed is shared by at least two children.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2019