Upgrade of GMCH Burns Ward Put on Back Burner

The increase in fire incidents in the city demand state-of-the-art facility for burn treatment in both the government medical colleges in the city. But the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), which draws maximum cases of burn injuries due to domestic incidents as well as industrial or accidental cases, doesn’t even have separate wards for men, women and children. There is virtually nothing at all in the form of equipment and infrastructure. After it was chosen one of the medical colleges for burn treatment upgradation, GMCH had prepared a project report under the National Program for Prevention and Management of Burn Injuries and submitted it to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER). GMCH was to get Rs 3.114 crore under the development project announced in 2017. Central government was to fund 60 percent of the project cost while state was to contribute 40 percent. But the proposal has managed to reach the finance department only recently.

“There were many queries from state medical education department. These were corrected and the proposal was resent at least eight times,” said a source. The Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) was as bad but during the ongoing upgradation in recent years the college has got three different wards for men, women and children, got a modern minor operation theater and cleaning and sanitizing unit (German model), internal oxygen pipelines, monitors etc. IGGMCH still lacks ventilators which is a must for critical patients. There is no skin bank which is ideally needed for the treatment. In fact, there is no dedicated in-house expertise for skin grafting. “Since 71 years of GMCH’s establishment in 1947, the burn wards is the only unit in entire hospital which has never been upgraded at all. It remains a single ward with 30 beds with no modern amenities like an OT for skin grafting or for that matter even simple hygienic dressing,” said a source in the GMCH.

However, it is not that the college administration never tried for it. The burns ward always has been a part of the surgery department whereas ideally it should be under the plastic surgery department as skin grafting and handling is best done by the plastic surgeons. Dr Raj Gajbhiye, surgery head at GMCH, told TOI that he has been raising the issue with the authorities since past four years, even before it became a beneficiary under the national scheme. He even got the ward partitioned into three parts with separate wash rooms for men, women and children. But somehow nothing much improved. Dr Gajbhiye says he is hopeful that the project proposal would soon be submitted to the Central government. “Once the center accepts the project, GMCH will have state-of-the-art modular OT, all equipment and other infrastructure. In fact, it will also have a chamber for the water therapy where the patient can directly be pushed with the bed for water exposure,” he said. – TOI