Though designed as provider of state of the art facility oriented treatment, 200 bedded Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Hospital Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, is not utilized to its capacity. The reason being shortage of staff and that of oxygen hence though designated as Level- II COVID Hospital, it is not able to let all the available beds be occupied by the patients for treatment facilities. The capacity , as such, is half utilized while there is huge scramble for the hospital beds for COVID patients.
We would not like to go in for individual causes of where the hospital is found wanting in having the need based reasonable infrastructure and instead would like the administration to go in for crash solutions to emerging problems. If shortage of staff and the oxygen are the two main problems faced by the hospital, the same have to be resolved immediately looking to the unprecedented rise in the mortality in COVID patients in Jammu region. If despite an oxygen unit installed is not functioning properly and 100 to 150 oxygen cylinders are procured on daily basis, let the same be continued but for replenishing staff shortage, retired trained personnel could immediately be called to handle the situation so that the existing capacity in the hospital, otherwise meant for COVID patients, could be utilized and not allowed to be wasted.