Rajasthan health dept approves 886 ICU beds for children

To address the probable surge of Covid-19 cases among children during the third wave of the pandemic, the state’s health department has approved 886 additional beds for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) at hospitals affiliated with medical institutions across the state.

The move will increase the number of NICU beds in the state from 604 to 1490 in the state. State health minister Raghu Sharma said, “In 15 medical colleges of the state, the state had 475 NICU beds in 2020, which has been increased to 604. As many as 120 new beds are being installed and 766 are in the pipeline,”

The number of NICU beds at SMS Medical College in Jaipur has grown from 212 to 237, with another 240 beds on the way.

He said more beds will be added to the pediatric Intensive care units (PICUs). The state had 174 PICU beds in 2020 and now it has 292 beds. “The work of adding 282 more beds to PICUs is going on. We have proposed 535 more beds to PICUs, which will take the total number of PICU beds to 1,109 in the state,” he further said.