MUMBAI: Nearly three years after it was originally scheduled to open, the ambitious super-speciality expansion of the state-run Sir JJ Hospital remains incomplete, with pending construction work, no Occupation Certificate (OC) and uncertainty over staffing continuing to delay the project. The wait has left one of the state’s busiest public hospitals struggling to expand its services despite a steady influx of patients.
The proposed expansion, comprising four wings, was intended to strengthen its capacity to provide advanced medical care and ease the burden on its existing facilities. These facilities are particularly important as the hospital plans to accommodate outpatient departments on the lower floors of the new buildings, making lifts and escalators essential for patients, especially those with limited mobility. The project has also encountered another setback: restrictions on the permissible height of the new buildings have forced the hospital to scale down its original plans.
Spread across 44 acres in the heart of Mumbai, JJ Hospital has 1,352 beds, including 250 ICU beds, and receives more than 3,000 patients at its outpatient departments (OPDs) every day. “Initially, we proposed 20-storey buildings, but managed to get permission for only ten-storey buildings.
A senior official associated with the project said repeated assurances about completion had done little to inspire confidence. “Though the hospital was set to be ready by December this year, we have seen quite a few delayed Decembers, and so we are not sure when we will finally be able to move into this facility,” the official said. Even after the remaining work is completed, the hospital cannot begin operations without an Occupation Certificate (OC), said dean Dr Ajay Bhandarwar. “Unless we get the Occupation Certificate, we cannot shift in,” he told HT. This curtails our plans to accommodate additional facilities within the new complex,” Bhandarwar said. The hospital had hoped to use some of the additional floors to accommodate resident doctors, who are already facing a shortage of residential facilities, according to the dean.
Wings A and B are nearing completion, but internal work, including the installation of lifts and escalators, is still pending. The hospital is also awaiting mandatory fire safety clearances.
considerable work remains before the hospital can begin using them Although the external structures of the buildings have largely been completed.
With that possibility now ruled out, the hospital will have to propose a separate residential building, a process that would require fresh administrative approvals and additional expenditure.
