COVID-19 lockdown makes matters worse at Cuttack's Sishu Bhawan

CUTTACK: Absence of important diagnostic facilities at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post-Graduate Institute of Paediatrics (SVPPGIP), better known as Sishu Bhawan, is posing serious problems to the patients. And more so due to the lockdown.

Sudhir Rout of Kusunpur in Kendrapara faced a tough time on Monday in availing an autorickshaw to take his 4-year-old nephew from Sishu Bhawan to SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) for CT scan. He was compelled to pay Rs 300 as auto fare to and fro for a 5-km journey.

And in the afternoon, after dropping his nephew back in Sishu Bhawan, he had to walk to SCBMCH to avail the report as the poor man could not afford to spend another Rs 300 towards auto fare.

Like Sudhir, several parents and guardians are facing similar ordeal in getting important tests of their children undergoing treatment at Sishu Bhawan done during the lockdown period. As per reports, the premier paediatrics hospital of the State lacks several important diagnostic facilities like CT Scan, MRI, NCV, Echo tests.

Similarly, there is no facility for round-the-clock ultrasound, X-ray and other tests at the hospital as a result of which, helpless parents and relatives of both outdoor and indoor patients have to depend upon SCBMCH towards diagnosis of their ailing children. While they could manage the situation to some extent prior to the lockdown, the problem has compounded  now.

However, Superintendent Prof Jnanindra Nath Behera said that necessary arrangements are being made by the hospital towards taking critical indoor patients to SCBMCH for diagnosis. The outdoor and other patients have to go for diagnosis on their own, he added.