PESHAWAR: One-bed onepatient policy adopted by Lady Reading Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex has increased load of patients on the nursery ward of Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, according to sources.

`LRH and HMC, both having 58 and 40 beds nursery wards respectively, are admitting one patient on onebedtoputbrakes oncrossinfec-tions but the 35-bed facility in KTH is exposing neonates to infections due to almost double admission,` a senior member of Khyber Pal(htunl(hwa Paediatric Association told Dawn.

He said that ill-equipped nursery wards at district hospitals forced people to shift their newborns to Peshawar hospitals, mostly to KTH where admissions were not denied.

Other two hospitals, LRH and HMC, have adopted one bed one patient policy as per medical protocol to protect patients from infections.

`The most common health issues among neonates are prematurity, low birth weight and perinatal asphyxia (oxygen deficiency at birth) that can be managed throughinfrastructure and trained and well-equipped health worl(ers but there are only four hospitals, having nursery wards in the province, to deal such cases,` he said.

He said that the association was trying to prevail upon the government to upgrade facilities for neonates so that unnecessary referral from the districts could be stopped. He added that admitting two or three patients on same bed exposed them to infection at KTH where patients were readily admitted because the relatives resorted to tal(ing quarrels with the staff.

`We receive patients from Waziristan, Karal(, Kohat and even from Attocl( where displaced people from the erstwhile tribal areas arestaying which is not correct medically,` another office-bearer of the association said. He said that there were 10 medical teaching institutions (MTIs) in the province but except three in Peshawar and one in Abbottabad the others six continued to refer cases to Peshawar, especiallyKTH.

He wondered as to why Pal(istan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) granted recognition to the medical colleges affiliated with MTIs in the absence of full-fledged nursery units.

He said that a recent study published in Pal(istan Paediatric Journal showed that the commonest causes of deaths in neonates were pre-maturity (21.60%), sepsis (14.51%) and birth asphyxia(21.0%).

The study revealed that the highest neonatal mortality in KTH was increased owing to worl(load along with less number of trained nursing staff for the best possible care required for those pre-mature babies, he said.

He said that PPA was also concerned overunnecessary referralof neonates from different districts to Peshawar.

`Even HMC and LRH are sending newborns to KTH because of lack of space. The government needs to upgrade services at the district hospitals,` he added.

He said that government continued to transfer out civil servants from MTIs that would also deprive KTH of the trained doctors worl(ingin the nursery ward. `Therefore, we demand of the government not to transfer civil servants from KTH because it will leave the patients high and dry,` he said.

The PPA member said that performing duty in nursery ward was extremely difficult because each of the trainee medical officers remained physically present for 60 hours a weel(. He said that infants required continuous monitoring. In other wards in hospitals, doctors and other staff could relax but in neonatal units, it was highly recommended that medics would remain present, he added.

`Pal(istan ranl(s second in Global Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR), averaging to 42 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births,` he said.