Unused polyclinic to double up as lab, isolation ward

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 2

Faced with the shortage of space in hospitals in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the Health Department has decided to set up an isolation ward and a testing laboratory in the abandoned building of a government polyclinic in Sector 55 here. It has been lying unused for the more than two years.

‘Need of the hour’

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Another isolation ward is the need of the hour because the existing one is unsafe as it is located near the general post-operative (surgery) ward. — Dr Savita Yadav, Principal Medical Officer

Sources say the laboratory and the isolation ward in the polyclinic are likely to be functional by the second week of this month. The need to have another laboratory for RT-PCR tests arose due to spike in Covid cases.

The district has reported 8,829 cases and 133 deaths so far.

At present, the department is dependent on the laboratory of ESIC Medical College and Hospital here.

Dr Savita Yadav, Principal Medical Officer, said: “Another isolation ward is the need of the hour because the existing one is unsafe as it is located near the general post-operative (surgery) ward.”

The polyclinic was built in 2014 at the cost of Rs 5 crore, but it never became functional because the staff was not appointed.

In 2016, the building of the polyclinic was handed over to the Department of Skill and Industrial Training, which used it as a transit campus of Sri Vishwakarma Skill University, Palwal. The campus was vacated in 2018.