Karnal: Despite pending construction, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay University of Health Sciences to begin OPD from December

Parveen Arora

Karnal, November 27

The construction of the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay University of Health Sciences at Kutail village is yet to be completed.

Foundation stone laid in 2019

• The medical university is being constructed on 138 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 761.51 crore
• CM Manohar Lal Khattar had announced the project in 2014 while PM Narendra Modi had laid its foundation stone on February 12, 2019
• The work was initially scheduled to be completed by January 2022, however, the deadline was extended to Sept 2022 and then to Jan 2023
• The authorities are hopeful that the construction work will finally be completed by the end of December

However, the government is planning to start its OPD in December from the ground floor of the physiotherapy and nursing colleges, which are part of the university and have already been started.

The OPD will be part of the 750-bed super-specialty hospital, which is being built, along with the administrative and residential blocks.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced the university on December 13, 2014, from Chandigarh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid its foundation stone on February 12, 2019, from Kurukshetra.

It is being constructed on 138 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 761.51 crore. The work was initially scheduled to be completed by January 2022. But due to the lockdown in the pandemic and other reasons, the deadline of the project was extended to September 2022 and later to January 2023.

The construction agency had sought permission for further extension of the deadline to August 2023. The last phase of the civil work is being completed while the equipment are yet to be purchased, said sources.

The authorities are hoping that starting the OPD facility will help push the agency to complete the work soon and also provide medical facilities to the residents of the region.

“The presence of faculty members on the premises will push the agency to complete the work at the earliest,” said Dr MK Garg, Director, Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC)-cum-controlling officer of the university.

He said, “Following the directions of the state government to check the feasibility of starting the OPD, six Heads of Departments had assessed the situation on November 13.”

“A meeting of the officials of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) will be held in Karnal on November 28, thereafter a report will be submitted to the government,” said Garg. He added that they were hopeful that the construction work would be completed by the end of December.

“If all goes as per the plan, we will start OPD services, mainly for medicine, gynaecology, orthopaedics and general surgery, along with pathology and biochemistry labs from the ground floor of physiotherapy and nursing colleges with the help of KCGMC faculty members,” said the college director. He said they would ensure that starting OPD in the university would not affect the working of the medical college.