Delhi: Hindu Rao Hospital will soon get a facelift by North MCD

One of the biggest government hospitals of Delhi, Hindu Rao, will soon get a facelift with the North Municipal Corporation of Delhi planning to build a multidisciplinary health block at the cost of Rs 105 crore.

A proposal to this effect was presented at the NMCD house meeting on Friday. The Hindu Rao Hospital, situated on the northern ridge on Malka Ganj road, is one of the largest facilities in this part of the city and caters to over 2,000 patients daily.

It includes departments of gynaecology and obstetrics, cardiology, neurology, ENT, skin, burns and plastic surgery.

Plus, it has a regional blood bank, neonatal intensive care unit and thalassemia day care unit. The municipal health programmes run from here, such as anti-rabies injections, are also very popular.

A senior official said, "The existing old structure will be demolished at a cost of Rs 6 lakh and the new construction will commence as soon as we float a tender for construction work."

"We are estimating that the new health block, complete with all facilities, new equipments, lights, machines, operation beds, etc. will cost us about Rs 105.41 crore," he added.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL

In 1951, the Delhi government converted this erstwhile nursing home into a general hospital offering basic preventive and curative OPD services with 127 beds for in-patients.

The MCD took over the hospital in 1958 and the union ministry of health designated this hospital as a referral hospital in 1963.

The hospital also caters to the medical and health needs of a number of referred patients from the dispensaries and colony hospitals managed by the MCD, the nearby public hospitals managed by Delhi administration, and many charitable and private institutions.

A new medical college was started here in July 2013 and has been named North MCD Medical College. With a seat of 50 MBBS students, it is affiliated to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

Interestingly, NMCD has been facing several problems in running its several hospitals due to high cost. It earlier announced that it would merge four of its hospitals.

The civic body on an average spends close to Rs 400 crore on its five hospitals. It charges only Rs 5 as receipt.

The NMCD has been reeling under a large deficit, which is likely to top with Rs 2,700 crore again.

It also proposed to hand over Balak Ram Hospital, which is under construction, to the Delhi government once it became fully operational.