GURUGRAM: Work on a new hospital block at the Civil Hospital in Sector 10 seems to be finally gaining momentum, around five years after it was announced. The public works department (PWD) has started digging work for the new building on a vacant plot of 1.5 acres inside the hospital premises.
The new five-storey block, which will have 100 beds, is likely to be completed in the next 18 months at a cost of Rs 21.5 crore. It will also have an intensive care unit (ICU), burns ward and special out-patient department (OPD), among other wards.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced a new hospital block at the 100-bedded hospital in 2015 and the project was supposed to be completed before the state government ended its five-year term in Haryana.
The plan initially was to build floors of the new block above the existing hospital building, but in August 2015, an inspection revealed that the building could not bear the weight of additional floors. So, in November 2016, it was decided that the new block would be built on a vacant plot adjacent to the hospital owned by the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran. It took two years, however, to finalise this.
In July 2018, the director-general of health services wrote to HSVP to transfer the land to the health department. But HSVP turned down the request, stating that the ownership of the land would remain with Huda, even if the new block is built there.
The current three-storey hospital started operations in 2014. It has 100 beds and caters to around 2,000 patients in the general OPD and speciality departments for ophthalmology, gynaecology, dermatology and paediatrics on a daily basis.
A senior health department official said with the new block, patients will be able to get more facilities in the hospital. “It will also have better facilities. More specialities will come up with new infrastructure,” the official said.