The Rajiv Intensive Care block project, which promises to add 500 additional beds at Niloufer Hospital, continues to get hit by inordinate delays. While the structure of the new block, which would augment hospital beds to 1,000 is almost over, there is a delay in procurement of the necessary infrastructure including beds and medical equipment needed to start the new block.
Funds for infrastructure
According to senior hospital officials, funds worth Rs.10 crore to Rs.15 crore are needed to acquire infrastructure and equip the new block in the hospital. So far, the State government has not released the funds or taken measures to float tenders for acquisition of the new medical equipment for the new block, they said.
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The foundation stone for Rajiv Intensive Care block was laid in January 2009 by late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Since then, the work was hit by a series of roadblocks.
“The new block was supposed to get completed in two years but it is already four years since the foundation stone ceremony. We are hoping for some breakthrough in the coming months,” a senior doctor hoped.
The hospital, because of its tertiary status, attracts large number of infants and would-be mothers from all parts of the State. At any given time, on a daily basis, the number of in-patients at Niloufer hospital is around 1,100 while officially there are only 450 beds. On an average, the daily outpatient wings of the hospital receives anywhere between 800 to 1,000 patients.
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‘Efforts on’
When contacted, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, L. V. Subramanyam said that efforts are on to take measures to complete the project.
“Senior doctors from the hospital met me to discuss the project. I will take part in the upcoming Hospital Development Society (HDS) meeting to sort out the issue. We are hoping to inaugurate the new block at the earliest,” Mr. Subramanayam said.
Doctors maintained that budget allocation to the hospital has to be augmented to maintain the upcoming infrastructure.
“More medical staff including doctors, nurses and paramedics have to be recruited to maintain the massive block. We are already struggling to maintain the Infosys block, which was constructed at a cost of Rs. 3 crore,” they added.