‘50-bedded CCU block to come up at Balurghat Hosp’

BALURGHAT: A Critical Care Unit (CCU) block consisting of 50 beds is going to become operational at the Balurghat District Hospital by October this year. At present the hospital has a 24-bedded CCU.

According to an official source, transporting critical patients from Balurghat to Malda, Siliguri or Kolkata is extremely time consuming and costly. “CCU beds are not available even in government hospitals after reaching those cities. As a result, the critical patients have to be admitted at private hospitals. That is why this 50-bed CCU will emerge as a life saver for the district’s critical patients,” said a source.

Incidentally, the work of the CCU block started in June 2023. The construction work is about 70 per cent complete and will be completed by October. During the Covid pandemic, it became a challenge for the district Health department to accommodate large numbers. Different government buildings were eventually used to accommodate patients, converting them to makeshift hospitals.However, before the pandemic, Balurghat District Hospital had a 12-bed hybrid CCU facility. Later the number of beds was increased to 24.

Sudip Das, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) of South Dinajpur, stated that the number of patients suffering from heart attack, brain stroke or kidney failure is increasing day by day, so sometimes these 24 beds fall short.

“This problem will be resolved when this 50-bed CCU becomes operational. After that the people of this district will not have to go to Malda, Siliguri or Kolkata for treatment,” he added.