‘Mumbai in need of clean, spacious civic hospitals’

Architect to develop Bhagwati Hospital in a way middle class can pay nominal rates for better facilities

After a long delay, construction of the new Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali is expected to begin in February. The existing structure, which is spread across six acres and in a decrepit state, was shut down in 2013. The civic body plans to have 500-odd beds, super speciality services and state-of-art facilities in the 10-storeyed building, which is being designed by 73-year-old architect Shashi Prabhu. Mr. Prabhu has designed over 100 stadiums, including Wankhede Stadium, and 30 hospitals, including and H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Lilavati Hospital. He spoke to The Hindu about the upcoming hospital’s design. Excerpts:

What are the key aspects of the design?

Hospitals don’t have a glorious entrance like hotels. They have two main entrances: the Emergency Medical Service for accident victims, and the Out Patient Department for consultations. Our design will follow this Standard Operating Procedure.

How different will it be from other public hospitals?

The hospital will have an air-conditioned Out Patient Department (OPD) to ensure doctors and patients do not perspire much. We are designing the OPD in a way to reduce the ambient noise which hinders doctor-patient interaction. We will be using dehumidifiers and filtering the air to curb the spread of infections. The operation theatres (OTs) will be very spacious.

How can good design help in improving cleanliness and accessibility in hospitals?

In public hospitals, there is continuous flow of patients and general recovery beds are converted into trauma beds when the need arises. Signages and spacious waiting areas are necessary to avoid cluttering. We are designing individual specialty clusters to limit the movement of people. One of the main aspects we are focussing on is catering to the middle class that cannot afford to go to a private hospital and hesitate to enter municipal hospitals. We will develop Bhagwati Hospital in a way that the middle class can pay nominal rates to enjoy better facilities such as good patient care and air-conditioned rooms. Having a semi-private section in the hospital will turn around patient care for the middle class. If civic hospitals in the city are clean and have good rooms, the middle class will definitely flock there.

What are the challenges in designing hospitals?

In a city like Mumbai, land scarcity is a major problem. In the mid 1970s, architects had no clue about hospital design. One had to sit with doctors to understand their requirements. With their help, I designed the Thane Municipal Corporation Hospital using the ‘Spine and Pavilion’ concept developed by the British. The spine of the hospital is the central portion which houses the OPD, operation theatres, diagnostics and radiology centres, while the pavilion houses the emergency and patient care wards. The hospital was first one in the State to be designed this way. Today, due to land scarcity, we have to adopt the ‘Podium and Tower’ model, where the podium houses OPD, radiology, storage centres and the tower has the patient care ward.