A day after Odisha Government snubbed the Centre and refused to accept its offer of assistance of doctors for Sishu Bhawan, the paediatric hospital here registered four more deaths of infants on Thursday taking the toll to 63 in the last two weeks.
Following the visit of a Central team here last week, the Union Health Ministry had sent a team of six senior resident doctors to assist the under-staffed Sishu Bhawan in checking the spurt in infant deaths. But the State Government refused to accept the assistance, following which the Central doctors’ team was asked to go back on Thursday.
“This is nothing but sheer egotism by the State Government due to the ruling party’s brute majority in the State Assembly,” said State BJP spokesman Sajjan Sharma. He said when the paediatric hospital is currently having 21 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 48 doctors, including 18 posts of assistant professors and two senior resident doctors, it is not understood as to why the State Government refused to accept the Central assistance.
Sharma said a senior resident each in paediatrics, paediatrics surgery, pathology, biochemistry, radiology and microbiology had come from New Delhi to work at the Sishu Bhawan for about a week as
these doctors are considered to be the main workforce of any hospital. “But the Odisha Government humiliated them by not accepting their assistance,” he said.
On the other hand, the State Government on Thursday changed the Sishu Bhawan Administrative Officer apparently with an aim to discipline the unruly staffs who are believed to have brought disrepute to the hospital. last week, the State Government had put six employees of the hospital under suspension and registered FIRs against three.