Replace old warmers in Raj hosps, recommends panel

Jaipur: Following deaths of two infants in April at a Beawar hospital after a radiant warmer in which they were kept in the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) got overheated due to high voltage, the health department has issued directions to replace all the warmers which were installed more than three year ago with new ones.
It may be noted that such an incident was reported in Alwar government district hospital’s neonatal ward on December 31, 2019.
In Beawar, two infants, a girl born prematurely on April 7 and an underweight boy with breathing problems born on April 14, were undergoing treatment at the Government Amrit Kaur Hospital at Beawar town in Ajmer when one radiant heater failed to function, resulting in overheating and the deaths.
Learning from the incident, the health department has taken an action in it. “An order has been issued to all the officials in the districts to follow the recommendations made by the government’s committee investigating in the incident happened in Beawar,” said a health department official.
He said that the order was issued to ensure that such incidents should not happen in the state.
The warmers which were installed three years ago, the committee has recommended to replace them with the new ones. Cables of power supply at Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC) will be replaced with the new cables.
The committee recommended that the engineers will frequently check the quality of the warmers installed in the hospital. Each warmer will be connected with MCB of 6 ampere with auto-cut stabilizer.
In Beawar’s incident, the investigating committee had found that the excess voltage was supplied to the warmer due to technical fault in power supply since auto-cut stabiliser was not present.
MoU with a private firm should be signed for six months for preventive maintenance and calibration work. At FBNC and sick newborn care unit (SNCU), paediatricians should take a round at each 8 hours interval. Trained doctors in nursing staff should be posted round the clock. It has also been recommended to conduct internal review meeting at SNCU at regular interval. To deal with high voltage supply problem, a power audit should be conducted regularly.