No life support backup system at cardiothoracic surgery wing of SCB

The lack of infrastructure and manpower at cardiothoracic vascular surgery wing of SCB Medical College & Hospital (SCBMCH), Cuttack, State's largest government-run healthcare facility established has come under focus with the authorities candidly admitting that patient may face the threat of death due to unavailability of the required equipment.

- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BHUBANESWAR, 22 AUGUST:

In an affidavit submitted to the Orissa High Court, the hospital authorities have stating that there is no backup to the life-support medical equipment in the cardiothoracic surgery wing.

"There is availability of one heart lung machine, one heater cooler machine and one dual-chamber pacemaker and in the event one of the machines becomes non-functional during operation, the patient will die, as there is no backup", Prof. (Dr.) Goutam Kumar Satpathy, Medical Superintendent, SCB SCBMCH stated in an affidavit in reply to Division Bench of Justice S.K.Sahoo and Justice V. Narasingh's query on the matter.

The hospital, widely regarded as the lifeline of the health service network, records on an average footfall of 6,000 to 7,000 OPD patients every day.