Bhubaneswar, Aug. 22 -- The lack of infrastructure and manpower in the cardiothoracic vascular surgery wing of SCB Medical College & Hospital (SCBMCH), Cuttack -- the state's largest government-run healthcare facility -- has come under judicial scrutiny, with hospital authorities candidly admitting before the Orissa High Court that patients undergoing surgery face the threat of death due to the absence of critical life-support system.
In an affidavit filed before a division bench of Justice S K Sahoo and Justice V Narasingh, SCBMCH Medical Superintendent Prof. (Dr.) Goutam Kumar Satpathy stated: "There is availability of one heart-lung machine, one heater cooler machine and one dual-chamber pacemaker and in the event one of the machines be...