CM’s nod for Civil hospital expansion on school land

GURUGRAM: It’s official. Gurugram’s busiest government hospital will be expanded soon.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday approved the proposal to expand the Civil hospital in Gurugram by acquiring a three-acre land from the adjacent government secondary school, state PWD minister and Badshahpur MLA Rao Narbir Singh said.
The CM’s go-ahead for the same came nearly three two weeks after Rao Narbir held a meeting with the additional chief secretary (health), in which the proposal to extend the total area of the hospital to nine acres from the existing 5.75 acres was discussed and finalised.
According to Rao Narbir, for the expansion of the hospital, an additional three acres will be acquired from the nearby senior secondary school, which currently exists in four acres of land. “An ‘L’ shaped building will be built with several facilities, including a multi-level parking, he said. “The plan of the new building for Civil hospital will be prepared soon since the approval has come from the chief minister,” Rao Narbir said. However, the hospital will continue to run in the existing building till the new building is built, the minister said.
A hospital official told TOI that the public works department would take around a year to construct the new building. The city’s busiest hospital, which sees a footfall of nearly 3,000 people every day, is built in an area of 5.75 acres. It also houses a blood bank, a regional vaccine store, the district Ayush department and other health facilities and offices.
The main hospital building is, however, in a dilapidated state and has witnessed a number of incidents of ceiling collapse, water seepage and drainage problem. Further, the hospital has only 200 beds, and health authorities have long demanded for at least an additional 100 beds. The gynaecology ward of the hospital was shifted to the first floor in 2015 after chunks of the building fell on a newborn mother and her baby though luckily the two had a miraculous escape. At present, both the gynaecology ward and the labour ward operate out of the first floor while the emergency labour room is situated on the ground floor.
Following a number of cases of breakdown and ceiling collapse, a team from IIT Roorkee was called in to inspect the building in April last year and submit a report on the status of repair. The report, according to senior officials, suggested construction of a new building as opposed to repairing the existing one.
On June 11, a meeting was held in Gurugram, which was attended by additional chief secretary (health) RR Jowel, Gurugram civil surgeon Gulshan Rai Arora, Rao Narbir and senior district officials. Soon after the health department had sought the approval to acquire the land and commence the construction of the building from the chief minister.
Before the meeting, officials had inspected the land of the school, which has around 800 students enrolled in it. “For the time being, children studying in 11th and 12th standards will continue their studies here, while students of other standards will be shifted to other government schools of the area,” Rao Narbir had said then.