Capital Hospital’s SNCU staff recount cyclone Fani horror

Bhubaneswar: After being ravaged by the cyclone Fani, the sick and newborn care unit (SNCU) inside the capital hospital has once again resumed its full scale operation. It is the same SNCU unit where the heroics of the doctors and staff nurses saved lives of 22 infants while cyclone Fani was bearing down on Odisha on May 3.

As per reports, 22 babies were admitted in SNCU of Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar during cyclone Fani. The staff nurses were present on duty when the gusty winds of cyclone Fani started tearing off the ceiling of the SNCU. After the ceiling started to fall, the medical staff covered and shifted all the 22 babies to the Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) located on the ground floor of the same building.

“By God’s grace, our hospital staff managed to save lives of the 22 babies. Now the SNCU has started functioning normally,” said Capital hospital director, Ashok Mohanty.

SNCU doctor, Jyotiprakash Mishra said that “The staff nurses were experienced and they anticipated that the ceiling might fall off. In a chain formation, the nurses cordoned off the place and the ceiling fell on them while the babies remained unhurt.”

Recounting the horror, a staff nurse said, “We immediately covered the babies. With identification bands, we called the parents and within moments we shifted the babies.”