Work picks up pace to renovate, upgrade district hospital at Rs 20 cr

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, March 18

The work has picked up pace to renovate and upgrade the ailing healthcare services at the district hospital here.

One of the biggest district health facilities in the state, with an OPD exceeding 1,100 patients daily, was being revamped, expanded and given a new look at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore with a deadline to complete the work in six months.

It has been taken up by Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora, who has adopted three district hospitals (DHs) for complete renovation and upgradation in the state.

Besides Ludhiana, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member in the Upper House of Parliament from the state has undertaken the task to overhaul the health facilities at Jalandhar and Sangrur, the home district of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as well.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the major philanthropist project would entail revamp of civil works and upgrade of health facilities to raise them on a par with private hospitals.

The present ailing state of the district hospital at the biggest and largest district headquarters in the state, in terms of area and population, could be gauged from the fact that both lifts in the hospital were out of order for the past over 12 years, the sewerage system was almost blocked for the past over a decade, rodents were posing a major health and safety risk to patients and their attendants, most of the ceilings were leaking and the centralised air-conditioning was also out of order for a long time.

Taking cognisance of all these perennial problems, Arora issued necessary directions to his team of experts put on the job and the government departments concerned to initiate immediate requisite steps for addressing the issues being faced by the patients and staff at the hospital.

Reviewing the ongoing work at the hospital, the MP instructed to immediately repair both lifts, install a new lift, revamp the sewerage system to get rid of the decade-long blockage issue, remove the garbage dump from the backyard of the hospital, which has turned a breeding ground for rodents, mosquitoes and flies, re-plaster the leaking ceilings, repair the centralised air-conditioning plant and relay internal roads and pavements with a provision for mobility of wheelchairs and making them user-friendly for the differently abled and elderly.

“While Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has been assigned the task to solve the problem of rodents on the hospital campus, the Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner has been asked to clear the garbage dump in its close vicinity on a priority basis,” Arora told The Tribune here on Monday.

He said besides undertaking the civil works, new medical equipment would also be provided at the district hospital.

“We have asked the hospital authorities to list out requirements, which will be met for providing the best healthcare facilities to the ailing humanity,” the parliamentarian said, adding that the ongoing work in Ludhiana would be completed in the next six months at the estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.

To become model hospitals

“Our aim is to develop these three hospitals as model health facilities in the state and take up a similar revamp and upgrade of remaining hospitals in the next phase,” the Rajya Sabha MP expressed while assuring that the three hospitals would be revamped and upgraded in one year.

At present, the Ludhiana district hospital has a capacity of 300 beds with 290 functional beds while Jalandhar and Sangrur have 470 and 100 beds, respectively. It was also decided that any new addition of infrastructure and civil works in these upgraded hospitals would be undertaken as per the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms. Moreover, uniformity in planning would be maintained.

Sangrur, Jalandhar hospital works to begin soon

While the survey of the Sangrur district hospital has been completed and the formal nod from the state government was awaited to begin the work on the ground, the survey of the Jalandhar district hospital will begin shortly.

On CM’s desire

It was after the Chief Minister desired that some philanthropist industrial houses may adopt some of the district hospitals for upgrade that leading industrialist-turned-politician Sanjeev Arora volunteered to adopt three facilities and coordinate and lead planning as well as execution efforts to upgrade them under the CSR and the MPLADS. Hailing the MP’s initiative, the Chief Minister assured that all necessary government support would be provided for the project.

As per preliminary reports, the repair of two non-functional lifts in the mother and child care hospital campus, two new lifts, one each in the emergency ward and the old hospital building, repair and renovation of structures and buildings, relaying internal roads and passages, landscaping and upgrade of the firefighting and life safety systems would be undertaken at the district hospital. Besides, the entire hospital and blood bank would also undergo a major overhaul with the provision of the latest and ultra-modern facilities and equipment.

The district hospital is spread across 6 acres, comprising six buildings and ancillary facilities. The main building houses the OPD, ICU and emergency services while other structures include the old building, mother and child hospital, blood bank and de-addiction centre.

Lifeline for needy: MP

“The district hospital is a lifeline for over 4 lakh patients, mostly the downtrodden, visiting every year. It is important that we upgrade the facilities and services at the hospital to meet growing needs of the community. I am confident that with the cooperation of all stakeholders, we will be able to transform the hospital into a world-class medical facility,” said Sanjeev Arora, RS MP.

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