Four Delhi govt hospitals to get 1,716 additional beds

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has decided to add 1,716 beds in four city hospitals at a cost of Rs 657.51 crore. The announcement was made after Wednesday's Cabinet meeting by Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain at the Delhi secretariat media centre.

Once completed, the bed capacity of these four hospitals together would go up to 2,941 from the current 1,225.

Jain said that an extra block would be constructed in Guru Gobind Hospital at west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar, which will increase the number of beds from the existing 100 beds to 572. The project is estimated to cost Rs 172 crore.

Similarly, construction of a new mother and child care unit and an OPD Block would be undertaken at Dr Baba Sahib Ambedkar Hospital, Rohini, at an estimated cost of Rs 195 crore; as a result, bed capacity of the hospital will increase to 963 from the existing 500 beds.

The Delhi Cabinet, during its meeting, also approved construction of the Trauma Centre and Utility Block at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Mangolpuri, at an estimated cost of Rs 118 crore, which will increase the bed capacity of this hospital to 662 from the existing 300 beds.

"Addition and remodelling work at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Pitampura, will be undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 173 crore, which will increase the bed capacity of this hospital to 744 from the existing 325 beds," Jain further said.

The Delhi Health Minister added that work is going on to increase the number of beds in Delhi to 20,000. This will be done by adding seven hospitals and remodelling 10 existing hospitals.

Currently, there are 10,820 beds across all Delhi government hospitals.

The construction of one new hospital will be completed in the current financial year, along with two other upcoming hospitals in Ambedkar Nagar and Burari, Jain said.

The three hospitals will together ramp up the bed strength by 3,200.

"This hospital was initially designed to have 700 beds, we increased it to 1,225 without stopping the work and delaying the project," the minister further said.