The cash-strapped Bengal government has been forced to sanction only 679 paediatric intensive care units (PICU) beds in state-run hospitals across Bengal though it had initially planned on 1,300 such beds as part of its preparedness for the third wave of Covid-19, which is likely to impact children more.

Health department sources said the state could not sanction the rest of the 621 beds as Nabanna could not give funds for new buildings.

“A paediatric ventilator will cost around Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh. Even though the state government can afford the cost of machines, it can’t afford to set up new buildings to install these units,” said a senior state government official.

The order issued on September 17 in which 435 PICUs out of 679 PICUs were sanctioned clearly stated that funds would be given for only minor renovation and installation of air-conditioning systems and other infrastructure.

“This means it is clear that no new building would be allowed to be set up for PICUs. The problem is that a majority of the state-run hospitals don't have enough vacant space to convert into PICUs by installing additional ventilator beds,” said a senior government official.

As of now, state-run hospitals have a total of 3,816 paediatric beds of which 229 beds are in PICU.

The state government had identified the paucity of paediatric intensive care units in June and had taken initiatives to increase the number of beds in PICU keeping in mind that more children could be affected in Covid-19’s probable third wave.

Initially, 244 beds in PICU were sanctioned in July. In September, another 435 PICU beds were sanctioned.

Sources said more PICU beds are required in the state as intensive care units for children are different from those for adult patients.

“In case of intensive care units for kids, it is necessary that the units have enough space to accommodate any of the parents of the sick child. This why more PICU beds could not be installed in existing facilities,” said a source.

Some officials blamed both the Centre the state government for failing to arrange funds for this purpose.

“The Centre did not give special funds to develop infrastructure for children though it was being discussed these past few months that more children could be affected if the third wave comes as they are not vaccinated yet. Exactly this is how the Centre overlooked the need to generate more medical oxygen during the second wave,” said an official.

Another official said the state government also failed to arrange funds.“It spent heavily to kick off welfare schemes promised by the chief minister ahead of polls. But it could have saved some money to develop Covid-19 treatment facilities for children,” the official added.