DDU resuscitates 5-yr-old proposal to build 9-storey OPD; sends proposal to Govt
The Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital in the Capital is planning to have a medical college of its own. The hospital has sent a proposal to the Delhi Government for setting up the medical college on the land behind the hospital owned by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Meanwhile, in another development the hospital has revived its buried five-year-old proposal to build a nine-storeyed Out Patient Department (OPD) block which deems to solve the problem of overcrowding and hygiene.
According to the Medical Superintendent Dr Bharat Singh, the proposal for the medical college was prepared after the Chief Secretary of Delhi Sanjay Kumar Srivastava made a suggestion. “The Chief Secretary visited the hospital last month. He saw all the facilities and saw the functioning of the hospital and suggested opening a medical college and we began the paperwork immediately. We prepared a proposal and the file has been sent to the Government and DDA for approval,” said Dr Singh.
The land for the medical college has been identified behind the hospital that belongs to the DDA. “The DDA has kept that land for commercial purposes. We have requested them to give the land for the medical college. The project is still at a nascent stage,” informed Dr Singh.
While the proposal for the medical college has been sent only now, the hospital is trying to revive their old proposal which has been stuck in limbo since 2009. “We had given a proposal in 2009 for the construction of a new OPD block of nine storeys in place of the existing one. This is meant to increase space and solve the issue of overcrowding in the hospital. The proposal was not paid heed to and processes never started. Now we have resubmitted the proposal,” said Dr Singh.
Dr Singh informed that though the hospital has increased its bed strength by 300 per cent in the past two decades, there is no space to accommodate these beds in the hospital. “There is acute shortage of space in the hospital. When the hospital was made, it had a capacity of only 200 beds. Now we have 640 beds. There is no space to accommodate these beds and that has led to overcrowding and inefficiency. The need of the new OPD block is urgent. We have also asked for new medical laboratories to be set up within the complex as well. Even a new Operating Theatre block with 15 OTs has been proposed,” added Dr Singh.
The hospital is now awaiting the Government’s response. However, Dr Singh is hopeful that this time the process should move faster than last time. “We are hoping things don’t get stuck in the bureaucratic red-tapism this time like earlier and we get the sanctions soon,” said Dr Singh.
