The Delhi Government has decided to make space for an additional 338 beds in Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, which is currently under construction, in South Delhi by making some changes to its design.
The announcement for the much delayed Ambedkar Nagar Hospital was made as early as 2010, which is being built on a 2.47-acre plot.
“The under-construction hospital at present has a provision of 262 beds, with the construction cost of Rs117 crore. The average cost of each bed is around Rs45 lakh. When we reviewed the hospital, which is designed by a private company, we found a lot of space was not utilised properly,” Health Minister Satyendra Jain said, while addressing a Press conference.
According to Government officials, rooms for doctors and officials were unnecessarily too spacious. “We revisited the facility and redesigned it. Now the same hospital will have a total of 600 beds, as we have managed to make space for additional 338 beds. The cost of additional beds is just Rs45 crore at an average cost of Rs13 lakh per bed. In other words, we are making another 338-bed hospital in the same area at a cost of Rs45 crore,” Jain said.
The Health Minister further said that they have managed to reduce the capital cost of the hospital and efforts would be made to reduce running cost, saying that in last 60 years, the Government had made provisions for 10,600 beds.
“Our priority is to give medical facility to the residents of the city. In next five years, we will take that
number to 40,000, which we also mentioned in our manifesto,”
Jain explained.
The Delhi Government will also review and redesign all the health facilities of Delhi. All the projects under planning stage will be reviewed on the basis of design efficiency, the Minister said.
“Earlier, there was nobody to check the efficiency of hospital, but we will keep a track on the efficiency of all the hospitals and will provide better services than private hospitals at a much cheaper cost. We have a large scale of work so we can do it economically,” Jain said.
The Government is also planning to extend the medical services in the city by starting two of their delayed super specialty projects — Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Tahirpur in East Delhi, and Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital in West Delhi. “There are two hospitals which are constructed but are waiting to get started. Delhi Government will soon review the project and will start
services here in another six months,” Jain added.