SDMC to transfer Purnima Sethi Hospital to Safdarjung Hospital

Facing "paucity of funds," the SDMC has decided to transfer a 60-year-old municipal hospital in Kalkaji to Safdarjung Hospital, seeking a revamp of the health facility languishing with "incomplete redevelopment".

The move to hand over the 157-bed Purnima Sethi Multi-specialty Hospital to the Centre-run hospital comes ahead of the civic body elections. Talks between the two sides on "perpetual lease" has been going on for some time, and the SDMC's Standing Committee cleared it on Wednesday. "The Safdarjung Hospital has agreed in-principle to take up this hospital and very soon an MoU will be signed to officially hand over the hospital," a senior SDMC official said. Built originally in late 1950s as a single-storey building with 30 beds and named 'Colony Hospital', its renovation began in 2007 but due to environmental and other clearance issues, the work got stalled.