#ChildhoodMatters Episode 17: Not just Gorakhpur, equipment deficit in Child ICUs is an all-India concern, says Dr Jitendar Sharma

“India has an equipment density of 7.2 per bed, Asia including China has an equipment density of 17 per bed, Europe has an equipment density of 21-23, even South East Asia has an equipment density of 9.8.”, shares Dr Jitendar Sharma, head of KIHT and AMTZ, in-charge of auditing and addressing clinical equipment deficit in public health institutions in India.

In conversation with Biraj Swain, he explains the pivotal role of clinical equipments in healthcare delivery. He takes a deep dive into the status of clinical equipment adequacy in child and neo-natal ICUs in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh and India. He explains why non-clinical reasons like non-payment of oxygen bills can be fatal even when clinical equipments are adequate. They discuss governance issues, corruption in health sector and ways of averting corruption in medical equipment procurement.

They discuss AMBU bags, the trauma of parents having to resuscitate their children manually. Dr Sharma explains the multiple forms of oxygen supply in hospitals, from cylinder, concentrator to liquid oxygen via pipes and what would be the most apt option for a low and middle-income country like India.

On the judicial order on cardiac stent pricing, Dr Sharma explains, how Ministry of Consumer Affairs’ regulation for mandatory MRP (Maximum Retail Price) display on healthcare equipments could have averted the embarrassment for the Government of India in courts and saved the distraught families from buying over-priced stents.

He laments the lack of global solidarity in clinical equipment sector, the predtory competition, and how it fuels import dependency for equipments in India.

They conclude by taking a look at health journalism, from Gorakhpur tragedy a year ago, to date. The interview was recorded on August 7, 2018 at NewsLaundry studio

Dr Jitendar Sharma can be reached at info@kiht.in and Biraj Swain can be reached at biraj_swain@hotmail.com