The city’s landmark Government Lady Goschen Hospital, providing healthcare to children and expecting mothers, is set to get a modern block with five floors by September 2014.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation-Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (ONGC-MRPL) will invest Rs. 21.70 crore (to be disbursed over three years) in the building, which will have with 226 beds and two passenger lifts spread over 1,30,000 sq ft.
Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of the project on Monday, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily said the hospital must be constructed within the targeted time of 18 months. Mr. Moily said that in addition to the building, the hospital must get facilities such as latest laboratories and a well-equipped ambulance.
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The aim should be “zero death” while providing healthcare for pregnant women and the 1 to 5 years of age category. He said that the hospital may take care of patients but its facilities were very bad now.
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Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said that those from the below poverty line (BPL) could make use of Vajpayee Arogya Shree Yojana, which began in north Karnataka districts, followed by Mysore and is now implemented in Mangalore. It provided access to super-speciality hospitals for health problems such as heart attacks and cancer, he said.
Mr. Shettar said he had been approached for approval of the ‘Soubhagya Sanjeevini’ plan (for interlinking of rivers in coastal districts). The coastal belt had many rivers but good use had not been made of them, he said.
Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman, MRPL and Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said that while women took care of families, fly planes and manage companies, it was important to ensure that they got quality and timely healthcare too.
Deputy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly Yogish Bhat said that Mangalore had got an international swimming pool, and the plan for road project along the rivers in the city called Mangala Corniche should also be implemented.
What the hospital will have
The diagnostic labs and the obstetrics and gynaecology out-patient department (OBG-OPD) will be on ground floor, medical records department, eight private or paid cottages and medical superintendent’s office will be on first floor of the new building, said a press release.
The second floor will have two general wards, major operation theatres, labour theatre, post-operative ward, eclampsia, septic labour theatre, 10 ICU beds, general ward with 10 beds and six delivery beds. The third floor will have ICU ward for newborns, and general ward with 89 beds.
The fourth floor will have the medical store, post and pre operative wards and four operation theatres. The fifth floor will have a post operative ward with 103 beds.
Lady Goschen Hospital caters mainly to the healthcare needs of patients mainly from below poverty line. According to the hospital, it attends to 6,000 to 7,000 delivery cases each year. While 75,000 patients are admitted as in-patients, 1.5 lakh are outpatients in a year. The patients come from all parts of Karnataka and north Kerala.