Karnal hospital to be shifted from century-old building

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Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 23

The local Civil Hospital will be shifted from its century-old building to a new one that will come up in Sector 32 near Shaheed Udham Singh Chowk here.

The state government has approved the construction of the building, which will house 200 beds. Earlier, the government had given approval for 100 beds. After the matter was pursued, the capacity was doubled, said a district health official.

The drawing and constructional approvals are being finalised again. The authorities are hopeful that the new hospital building will get the administrative approval soon and the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) will provide additional five acres for the project. Already, 10 acres has been earmarked for the hospital.

The foundation stone of the Civil Hospital was laid on April 17, 1911, by Major CH Buck IA, the then Deputy Commissioner, Karnal (then a part of Punjab province). At that time, the hospital was named King Edward Memorial Hospital.

Cut to 1980s. City residents had pooled in money and got constructed the out-patient department (OPD) block.

In 2010, then Congress government had converted the Civil Hospital into Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC). The land was handed over to the KCGMC in December 2012, but on April 13, 2017, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced to restart the Civil Hospital from the old building. After a gap of five years, the hospital started functioning in Karnal in December 2017.

Civil Surgeon Dr Yogesh Sharma said, “The process for the new hospital building started in 2015. Around 10 acres were given to the Health Department in Sector 32, but the need for more land arose because two high-tension electricity lines passed over around four acres.”

The new building will have Cath Lab facility, MRI scan, CT scan and dialysis, along with administration wing of the Civil Surgeon’s office as well as residential accommodation for the staff.

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Peep into history

The foundation stone of the Civil Hospital was laid on April 17, 1911, by Major CH Buck IA, then DC, Karnal

At that time, the hospital was named King Edward Memorial Hospital

Cut to 1980s. City residents had pooled in money and got constructed the OPD block

In 2010, then Congress government had converted the Civil Hospital into Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College