LNJP among 15 Delhi government hospitals to get facelift

NEW DELHI: As many as 15 Delhi government-run hospitals are to be upgraded with improved civil and medicare infrastructure and increase in bed strength, to boost healthcare facilities in the capital.

The project also includes Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Hospital (LNJP), where a 'state-of-the-art' block will be constructed. "We are seeking to boost healthcare facilities in the capital. And, as part of a project, 15 state government hospitals are to be upgraded. This will include remodelling of various buildings, increasing bed strength, augmenting medical care infrastructure, among other measures," a senior official in the Delhi health department said.

Once upgraded, the improved infrastructure at these facilities, besides other upcoming hospitals, would help address growing needs of patients, he added.

During the recent nationwide strike by doctors, many medical bodies, including the Delhi Medical Association had sought increase in doctor-patient ratio and appealed to the Centre and various governments to augment medical infrastructure in hospitals across the country.

The fifteen facilities chosen under the upgrade project, include LNJP Hospital, LBS Hospital and Bhagwan Mahaveer Hospital.

Dr Kishore Singh, Director of LNJP Hospital, the biggest under Delhi government, which gets thousands of patients every day, said, a "major upgrade" facilities in on the cards. "A new 22- storey gyane-pediatric-medicine block will be constructed as part of this government project. It will be a state-of-the-art facility, the tender for which process has already begun," he said.

Singh said, as part of the project, the old OPD block's casualty facility will be renovated with addition of 57 beds. "We have also placed order for linear accelerator used for cancer treatment," he added.

"Besides the upgrade of existing facilities, three new, under-construction hospitals are in the final stages of the projects," a senior health department official said.

These upcoming hospitals include, a 800-bed facility in north Delhi's Burari, 1,500-bed hospital at Dwarka and 600-bed hopsital at Ambedkar Nagar, the official said.