Soon, some OPDs of CNMCH to shift to its new utility building

KOLKATA: The Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) will soon a get a utility building on the hospital campus where some of the Outpatient departments (OPD) will be shifted.

A five-storeyed utility building will come up at an estimated cost of Rs 22 crore. The state government will bear the entire cost of the project. A detailed project report will soon be submitted to Swasthya Bhavan.

According to a senior official of the CNMCH, the state Health department has already given its consent to prepare the project report and the fund would be allotted to the hospital authorities after reviewing through the project. As per the estimate, around Rs 17 crore will be spent by the Public Works Department (Civil) while the remaining amount of Rs 5 crore will be spent by the Public Works Department (Electric).

The new building will be constructed adjacent to the ENT Building of the hospital. According to sources, there will be arrangements for basement car parking and the ground floor will house an electrical sub-station. It is expected that the proposed building will take away some pressure off the other departments as they record a huge footfall on a daily basis.

A senior official of the hospital said as per initial plans the skin or medicine department may be shifted to the new building along with some others. The OPDs will be situated on the first and second floor of the building while the third and fourth floor will be used as store rooms where medicines, medical and non medical items would be kept. The hospital authorities will take the final decision on the shifting of departments to the proposed building.

Unlike other medical colleges in the city, the CNMCH has some space crunch. A sharp rise in the number of patients in various departments of the hospital has further complicated the situation. Once the new building is made operational, the problem would be addressed to a great extent. Sources said the construction work of the Utility building will be started soon after getting the final clearance from the state Health department.

Deputy Superintendent of the CNMCH, Dr Bimal Bandhu Saha said: "The construction of the Utility Building will begin after getting final clearance from the state Health department. The proposed building will house some outdoor departments catering to more number of patients."