The residents of North and Central Delhi areas will soon be availing multi-disciplinary medical and surgical facilities at Hindu Rao Hospital in their vicinity. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) has paved the way for converting the hospital into a multi-speciality hospital with construction of a separate multi-storeyed surgical block. This will be in addition to a new nursing unit, upgradation of radiology department with advanced equipment and renovation of the OPD block, provisions for which have been made in the budget for the year 2013-14 presented in the Corporation.
According to the budget proposal, 40 new operation theatres will be constructed in the hospital taking the total number of facility to 60. Officials said at present there are 20 operation theatres at the Hindu Rao Hospital where close to 15,000 surgeries are performed every year. However, given the limited resources patients have to wait for three to four months for their turn. “The civic body will construct 40 new OTs at the hospital. This will enable the hospital to perform 60,000 ops every year and the waiting period will come down significantly to 15 days,” said Mohan Bhardwaj, chairman of the standing committee while presenting the budget. Hindu Rao Hospital is the biggest hospital in the area serving over five lakh patients. Upgradation of the Hindu Rao Hospital comes after opening of the medical college associated with it, which is the first by any civic agency in Delhi.
Officials said the new multi-speciality block would almost be twice the existing capacity of the hospital. At present, the hospital is capable of accommodating 980 patients. Once the new block is operational, the civic body also plans to create new departments. Since the number of visitors to the hospital is expected to go up significantly, the Corporation has also planned to construct a three-level underground parking in the basement of each new block. The civic body is in process of appointing a consultant who will prepare a detailed report on the project.
“With opening of the medical college, there is a need for development of more facilities. Besides providing practical training to medical students, the upcoming facilities will immensely benefit scores of patients frequenting Hindu Rao Hospital everyday. As per the proposal, two separate multi-specialty and OT blocks will be constructed,” said a senior civic body official. Besides the OPD, emergency and casualty services, the Hindu Rao Hospital provides services in medicine, orthopaedics, gynaecology, ENT, ophthalmology, cardiology, physiotherapy, paediatrics, pathology and forensic medicine, among others. It is noteworthy that these departments needed to be augmented after opening of the medical college. The medical college, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was inaugurated in August with 50 students enrolled in the first session. The number of students will also be increased to 200 from this year.