The civil hospital is undertaking a major infrastructure upgrade across its campus, with work underway to expand the emergency ward, create new waiting and parking facilities and improve patient-care areas. The upgrade also includes air-ducting, washroom repairs, new tiles, streetlights and improvements to electrical, sewerage and plumbing systems.
The expansion comes as the hospital grapples with a rising patient load. Air-ducting is being installed in the OPD, trauma, emergency, HDU and male and female wards, while new tile work is underway in these areas. A new manifold area is also being developed in the old wing. “There is a lot of rush here, so even small problems create inconvenience.
Its OPD footfall has increased by 25% compared with August last year, with nearly 2,000 patients visiting the OPD on a typical day. The number of delivery cases has also risen by 40%, while around 150 medical emergencies are handled daily. The hospital is also expanding its emergency ward from eight beds to 16. The hospital handles around 150 medical emergencies daily and nearly 700 deliveries every month.
“When we start any work, we make sure that the repair can be completed immediately so that the public does not face any inconvenience. We want to provide better facilities and improve the hospital so that patients and attendants are comfortable,” he said.
Senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Akhil Sareen said the works were being executed in phases to ensure that hospital services were not unnecessarily disrupted. Patient attendant Manveer Kaur said the improvements would be useful given the rush at the hospital but stressed that the work should be completed quickly to avoid adding to patients’ inconvenience. If the facilities are improved and maintained properly, it will make things easier for patients,” said another patient, Parampal.
Around eight to 10 postmortems are also conducted each day. For patients and attendants, the ongoing work is expected to address some of the everyday problems associated with a crowded hospital, including inadequate waiting space, parking constraints and limited emergency capacity.
