More OTs to unburden Neuro Department in SCB

Even as it awaits to be elevated   to a Centre of Excellence, the Neurosurgery Department of the SCB Medical College and Hospital has pressed for streamlining its OT setup in view of the rising surgery load.

Emphasising the need for increasing the number of OTs, the major neurosurgical facility of the State has called for creation of a specialised neuro-anaesthesia wing with trained personnel attached to the department.

The necessity arises from not only the fact that the Department has been facing serious problems in conducting operations on time due to paucity or non-availability of anaesthesiologists, but also advances in medical technology have underlined creation of a specialised neuro-anaesthesia wing.

With the operating days increased to six days a week from the earlier three days, the number of surgeries has gone up substantially from around 604 operations in 2008-09 to 958 in 2011-12. The anaesthesiologists attending the patients in the Neurosurgery OT are from the general pool of Anaesthesia Department. As most of the times anaesthesiologists are not available, critical surgeries are either delayed or denied.

“Moreover, Neuro-anaesthesia has emerged a major sub unit of Anaesthesiology with institutions like AIIMS not only adopting the system, but also extending superspecialisation DM courses in the field. Department of Neuroanaestheisa has become integral to any National Institute of Neuroscience in the country, which applies to us as we develop into a Centre of Excellence providing top standard care to the patients of the State”, a senior doctor said.

The Department has also underlined the importance of increasing the number of OTs and bed strength due to the increasing patient load. Presently, despite conduct of about 15 surgeries a week, there is a waiting period for as long as two months.

With indoor admissions to the tune of 2,652 patients a year, there is a dire need for increasing bed strength to 60 from the present 34. The neurosurgery ICU should also be raised from four to 10 beds.

The Government, at a high-level meeting chaired by Health Minister Prasanna Acharya in May last year, had announced plans for elevating the Department to a centre of excellence. The floor above the existing Neurosurgery Department occupied by the soon-to-be-shifted Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery Department would be allotted to it for expanding facilities.