Paying heed to the lack of centres for cancer treatment, Ram Manohar lohia (RMl) Hospital is planning to build a new super speciality block with an intensive cancer treatment unit. The hospital has proposed a project worth Rs700 crore to the Government to build a 16-storey dedicated block with all cancer treatment facilities, a diagnostic block and an Out Patient Department (OPD) for all the super-specialty departments. The project, however, is still awaiting several approvals.
Medical Superintendent Dr HK Kar said, there is an acute shortage of beds in the hospital and the new block will help us resolve the issue. “We have all super speciality departments but we need more beds there and the only way we can deal with the problem is if we make new multi-storeyed structures with additional rooms. This new super-speciality block will bring in 400 more beds and 1,000 private rooms,” he said.
While the main idea of the super speciality block is to increase the number of beds, the real addition — in terms of hospital services — will be the introduction of a cancer wing in the new block. Kar elaborated, “So far the hospital doesn’t have a cancer wing. We don’t have the facilities to treat cancer but now there will be a full-fledged unit for the same. There will be a surgical, oncology and medical unit along with a separate unit for radiotherapy.”
There will also be an addition of 16 Operation Theatres (OTs) in the new block accompanied by a diagnostic centre and OPD. “The OPD will be for all the existing super speciality services,” informed Kar.
The block has been proposed to be built on 2.3 acre of the G-Point land in Gole Market. While the land is actually of four acres, 1.7 acre of the land belongs to the President’s Estate. The 2.3 acre land belongs to the hospital and is behind Akshara Theatre and near the trauma block. However, the hospital will have to take several permissions to officially overtake the land and start construction. Since the project involves construction of a multi-storeyed structure, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) also has to give clearance. Additionally, project approvals from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Planning Commission are needed because of the exuberant expenditure in the project. “It will take Rs700 crore to finish the project completely, including expenses on manpower and equipment,” said the MS.
Other than this new block, all the old structures are expected to be demolished and reconstructed in the long run. “For the super speciality block, a draft proposal has been sent to the Government. When this project finishes, we will demolish all the old buildings, which is the OPD, emergency and canteen area and rebuild them. This plan is still at a preliminary stage. We want to make a single structure to accommodate everything,” informed Kar.