Five years on, Gurugram awaits construction of new Civil Hospital

Five years after Gurugram’s Civil Hospital was pulled down, the city - home to some of the country’s costliest and most sought-after private healthcare chains and a magnet for medical tourists flying in from the Gulf - still does not have a functional government civil hospital, with construction yet to begin even after the recent transfer of the project to the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

The 200-bed Civil Hospital at Civil Lines, spread over 7.73 acres, was demolished in 2021 after repeated structural failures, including at least six roof collapses between 2015 and 2016 in critical areas such as the maternity ward and the ICU. The site, once envisioned as the backbone of public healthcare in the Millennium City, today functions as an informal parking lot for Sadar Bazar vehicles, strewn with construction debris and foraged by stray dogs.

The irony is stark. Gurugram is Haryana’s and among north India’s biggest private healthcare hubs, with multi-specialty chains drawing patients from across the NCR and international patients from the Gulf region for cardiac, orthopaedic and oncology treatment. Yet the city’s public healthcare system rests almost entirely on the 100-bed Sector-10 government hospital, which was never designed to serve Gurugram’s current size and population.

The civil hospital project was first announced in the 2019 state budget as a 400-bed facility, later expanded to 750 beds, before eventually settling on a phased 400 200-bed model. In August 2024, the state government approved Rs 989.8 crore for the project and released Rs 60 crore as the first instalment. In January 2025, officials announced construction would begin by May that year after the bidding process, with the Central Public Works Department as the executing agency. That deadline came and went. The project has now been transferred to HSIIDC, but no construction has started on the ground so far.

The human cost of this delay plays out daily at Sector-10 hospital, which doctors say handles up to 3,000 OPD patients a day during peak season, with just around 106 doctors for roughly 130 functional beds. The hospital has no burn ward and no dedicated dengue ward, forcing even moderate cases to be referred out - often to Delhi. Ultrasound services shut down at 3 pm every day, leaving patients to return without scans after hours of waiting.

One such case is that of Rohit Yadav, a Wazirabad resident who works at a local office . His daughter became breathless and was rushed to Sector 10. With no beds available, the doctors eventually examined her but referred her to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. As her condition deteriorated he had to rush to a nearby private hospital where treatment cost around 2 lakh. For the residents of villages on Gurugram’s periphery, the Sector-10 hospital itself is often a long and difficult journey, leaving many with little choice but to turn to expensive private facilities or go without timely treatment altogether. A doctor at a government facility in the city, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the system was operating well beyond its capacity. “We have been pushed to our limit, be it OPDs, emergencies or the maternity ward,” the doctor said.

The delay has also drawn political criticism. Capt Ajay Yadav, senior Congress leader and former Haryana minister, questioned the government’s accountability on the issue. “Gurugram contributes nearly 70 per cent of Haryana’s total revenue, yet its residents have to wait years for even basic healthcare facilities. The accountability for this delay rests squarely with the local MP, who has been elected six times, and now even his daughter has been the state’s Health Minister for the past two years. Despite this, construction on the Civil Hospital hasn’t even started,” he said.

Haryana Health Minister Arti Rao told The Tribune that she and her father MP Rao Inderjit Singh had worked hard to get the project approved at the same site where the old hospital was demolished. “The delay was due to the previous executing agency. The project has now been handed over to HSIDC, and the plans and detailed project reports are being finalised. Once the tender process is completed, construction will start as soon as possible. The Health Ministry is not directly involved in project but it’s our top priority and we are closely following it up,” she said.