UP CM inaugurates PICU units at two CHCs, to benefit 5 lakh kids

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 6 : Newly constructed Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) were inaugurated at Gorakhpur's Jangal Kauria and Chargaon (Khuthan) Community Health Centres (CHCs) on Monday by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
According to a media release by the state government, the PICU was developed by Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (Hurl), with the Corporate Environment Responsibility (CER) fund and will benefit five lakh children, including 2.5 lakh residents each at Jangal Kauria and Chargaon.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said the focussed efforts in strengthening the state's healthcare facilities has resulted in a marked decline in the death rate, adding that with stronger health facilities, infant and maternal mortalities in the state could be controlled better.
Stressing the importance of PICU at health centres, Adityanath said eastern Uttar Pradesh was in the grip of encephalitis for a long time, claiming 50,000 lives of children in four decades between 1977-78 and 2017-18, as the patients did not receive timely treatment.
He added that his government started a programme in 2017-18 to control the disease by enhancing healthcare facilities and as part of this initiative, PICUs and mini-PICUs were set up at district hospitals and Community Health Centres.
"This helped us control deaths from encephalitis by 96 per cent. Earlier, 1,200 to 1,500 children died of the disease. However, the count has come down to almost zero today," the CM added.
He also stressed the importance of focusing on the prevention of encephalitis by raising awareness about cleanliness, consumption of pure drinking water, use of toilets, hygiene, vaccination etc, pointing out that the government is running special campaigns for control of communicable diseases three to four times a year for prevention and awareness. Along with this, health facilities are also being strengthened continuously, he informed.
The CM said, "The experience of the efforts made to control encephalitis was very useful in the management of the novel coronavirus as well."
"Earlier there was not even a single ICU bed in 36 districts and today 7,000 ICU beds are only for children in Uttar Pradesh," he added.
He added that after about 31 years, Hindustan Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (Hurl) has started the production of fertilisers in the place where the closed FCI factory once stood. He informed that it was producing 100 per cent of its capacity, leaving no room for any shortage of fertilisers for farmers.
"The foundation stone of Hurl was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also inaugurated it. Farmers got fertilizers on time even during the Corona period. Uttar Pradesh as well as Bihar and neighbouring states are getting the benefit of this factory," the CM said.
Thanking Hurl for setting up PICU, the CM said along with compost production, his government was taking forward its social commitments.
"Hurl has taken several initiatives in the field of education, skill development and health programmes. On its behalf, the process of setting up pediatric ICUs in 17 health centres has been started while the construction of two has been completed. The services of specialist doctors will be available here. Gorakhpur Development Authority as an executive body will also maintain it for three years," Adityanth said.