SHILLONG, Feb 1: In a first for Meghalaya, a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) has been set up at Ganesh Das Government Maternal and Child Hospital, Shillong.
Health Minister, James PK Sangma, who attended the inaugural programme of the PICU, said that the setting up of the same at the hospital was much-needed as over 30 per cent cases are pediatric-related.
“Another eight PICUs are coming up very shortly. It is an honour to be able to dedicate this PICU to the people of the state at the time when we are celebrating 50 years of our statehood,” the health minister said.
Principal Secretary of Health department, Sampath Kumar, said that the setting up of the facility in the hospital is all-important since 15 per cent of the institutional deliveries in a calendar year take place here.
Terming the inauguration of the PICU as a red-letter day, DHS (MI), Dr Aman Warr, said this will go a long way in providing better healthcare service to children.
Senior paediatrician, Dr T. Pde, in her address, informed that Ganesh Das Hospital caters to the majority of critically ill infants or children.
“Out of the 74,500 cases, who are admitted in hospital annually, 30 to 40 per cent of the cases are critically-ill children who come from a poor economic background. Majority of them cannot afford to go to the private hospital for treatment,” Dr Pde said.
Informing that despite conceptualisation by governments in the past, the facility never saw the light of the day.
Stating that that the need for the PICU resurfaced in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Pde said, “The third wave of the pandemic has been known to affect a majority of the children needing PICU care, and it has become all-important to set up this unit.”
According to Dr. Pde, it was in June 2021, the setting up of PICU at the hospital began.