West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Tuesday asked private hospitals that lack a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) despite having paediatric units to set up intensive care beds for kids, the chairperson of the commission said.
The immediate trigger for the advice, which the commission gave at a meeting with representatives of private hospitals, is the spread of respiratory infections among children across the state.
Retired judge Ashim Banerjee, chairperson of the commission, said a hospital without a PICU bed will have no option but to ask the family of a child whose condition has turned critical to shift him or her to another hospital. Shifting a patient in such condition could be risky, Banerjee said.
“We have asked hospitals with paediatric general beds to create paediatric intensive care beds,” Banerjee said.
“We have asked hospitals to remain prepared with paediatric beds. There are some large private hospitals that do not have a paediatric intensive care unit. We have asked them to set up a PICU as quickly as possible,” said Banerjee.
Sources said officials of more than 40 hospitals attended the online meeting.
A senior official at a private hospital said setting up PICU beds requires considerable investments as doctors trained in critical care of children have to be recruited. Besides, many equipment have to be purchased.
The hospitals have also asked to submit reports with data on the number of patients admitted over the past few weeks with an acute respiratory infection, age of those patients and their medical condition, and the number of deaths.
Details of patients admitted till March 15 will have to be submitted by March 23, said Banerjee.
The commission is also in the process of setting up a web portal that will display figures — updated real time — on availability of beds in private hospitals.
The portal will enable employees at a call centre that the commission is setting up to inform callers about vacant beds in hospitals. The call centre will start functioning soon, the chairperson said on Tuesday.
The work to set up the 24X7 call centre is almost over and the commission is only waiting for a phone number to be assigned to the centre, Banerjee said.
“Once the call centre and the web portal start functioning, those who will answer calls at the centre will be able to direct a patient’s family to the hospital that has a vacant bed. Patients will not have to run from one hospital to another in search of a bed,” he said.
On Monday, an official in the state health department said 12,343 children were admitted to hospitals across the state with an acute respiratory infection in the past two-and-a-half months. Nineteen children who tested positive for the adenovirus died during this period.
“New admissions across government hospitals have come down from 800 daily a week ago to 600 daily,” the official said.
“Only 265 of the 654 paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds in government hospitals across the state were occupied on Monday.”