VARANASI: Amid worries of a possible third wave of Covid-19, which may impact children more, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated maternal and child health (MCH) unit at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) hospital in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Thursday.
Considered to be the AIIMS of Purvanchal (East UP), adjoining Bihar and even Nepal, the Sir Sunderlal Hospital in BHU campus got the MCH wing, comprising 100 dedicated beds for maternal and child health care, particularly in view of the vulnerability of children to the possible third wave.
"The 100 new beds in MCH wing comprises 30 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds, 30 high dependency unit (HDU) beds and 40 maternal care beds. It also has an operation theatre, labour room, a library and in vitro fertilization (IVF) facility," a senior officer of the hospital told The New Indian Express.
After getting information about the new facility, PM Modi visited the antenatal care ward as well as the labour room along with a team of young gynecologists and paediatricians.
After spending seven to ten minutes at the newly inaugurated MCH wing, the PM also saw detailed presentations from the Varanasi district magistrate, the district’s chief medical officer and the director of Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS-BHU), besides a private practitioner paediatrician Dr Ashok Rai.
Visibly satisfied with the arrangements at the Banaras Hindu University Hospital, PM Modi took keen interest in knowing how the facilities at the hospital are being regularly updated, particularly the hospital’s bed capacity having been raised from 1500 beds to 2700 beds in the last seven years.
According to sources present at PM’s interaction with doctors, the Modi particularly enquired about the pace of vaccination in his parliamentary constituency as well as how the state government had handled the spread of Covid pandemic in the second wave in rural areas and the future plans for combating the possible third Covid-19 wave.