BHU Vice-Chancellor Panjab Singh inaugurated the 6-bed ward on the first floor of the Paediatric Department at Sir Sunder Lal (SSU) Hospital.

Coming up at a cost of Rs 20 lakh, the ward will provide specialised care to children - up to 15 years of age - needing immediate medical or surgical intervention in cases of sudden spurt in blood pressure, epilepsy, asthma, meningitis and bronchitis, Head of Department Professor O P Mishra said. The new facility will address the 20-25 cases of emergency the hospital handles everyday.

The ward is likely to get at least ten more beds and two more ventilators in the future. It will also have a team of trained resident doctors and nurses attending to patients round-the-clock on beds equipped with a multi-channel monitor facility, pulse oximeter, infusion pump (automatic drug delivery system) and direct oxygen lines, Mishra added.

Mishra, however, said the ward lacked space for quarantine of infectious diseases. It will also not be handling cases of diphtheria, rabies and tetanus. “We will continue to send these cases to the Varanasi district hospital until three more floors are added to the department building, for which a Rs 2.5-crore proposal has been sent to the UGC,” Mishra said.

Besides the emergency ward, the department has also been centrally air-conditioned at a cost of more than Rs 25 lakh, which means the department now offers emergency care, a paediatric ICU and a neo-natal ICU, all fully air-conditioned.

Addressing the inaugural function, Panjab Singh said, “With the start of this unit, we will be able to reduce cases of infant and paediatric mortality.”