False ceiling at Amritsar hospital posing risk to lives of newborns, mothers for 4 yrs
AMRITSAR: The false ceiling of the building of the Bebe Nanki Mother and Child Care Centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) is on the verge of collapse and has been posing risk to the lives of mothers and newborn babies for the past four years.
A portion of the ceiling collapsed at the phototherapy unit-2 of the paediatric ward in the centre on Thursday, which allegedly hit a two-day old boy’s belly who died two hours later.
The centre was inaugurated in November 2011 by the then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at this largest state-run hospital in Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab, which is a part of Government Medical College (GMC), Amritsar.
The centre’s building, which was built and maintained by the public works department (PWD), is witnessing huge gaps in infrastructure since its inauguration.
Due to regular seepage from air conditioner (AC) pipes, the false ceiling has been badly damaged.
The fans are also attached to the ceiling, which cannot bear heavy weight.
“For the last four years, we have been writing letters to PWD every month to repair the ceiling, which had collapsed many times though no one was injured.
PWD repairs the damaged portion, but the entire building needs immediate repair,” said Dr Manmeet, head of paediatrics department.
DEATH OF NEWBORN
“My 14-day old baby was in the same room on Thursday when the portion of the ceiling gave way. The collapsed ceiling had hit the belly of another baby. The doctors immediately shifted him to another room and he died after some time,” said Hardeep Singh, a local resident.
However, Dr Sandeep Aggarwal, assistant professor of paediatric department, said, “The baby was suffering from septicemia with multi-organ failure when he was born. The collapsed ceiling didn’t hit the baby. There is no link between the ceiling collapse and his death. No baby was injured in the incident.”
GNDH medical superintendent Dr Jagdev Singh Kullar did not respond to HT’s phone calls.