Chandigarh: Advanced centre for infectious diseases to come up at GMCH-32

UT administration approved the project of setting up a state-of-the-art advanced centre for infectious diseases at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, Chandigarh

The UT administration on Friday approved the project of setting up a state-of-the-art advanced centre for infectious diseases at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, Chandigarh. The advanced centre, a first of its kind in the entire region, will provide specialised services and training for highly infectious and communicable diseases. The centre will come up on 1.6 acres of land on the campus.

The advanced centre for infectious diseases will provide specialised services and training for highly infectious and communicable diseases. It will come up on 1.6 acres of land on the GMCH-32 campus in Chandigarh. (HT File Photo)

“The project has been approved and now the internal planning will be reworked by the department of urban planning and the department of engineering. After that, we will speed up the process to begin the project this year itself,” said Dr Jasbinder Kaur, director-principal, GMCH-32.

She added, “Respiratory infections like viral infections, tuberculosis, bacterial and fungal pneumonia are highly prevalent in our geographical region. The newly emerged infections like H1N1 and Covid-19 are putting an extra burden on healthcare. There is a possibility for the emergence of new viral respiratory infections for which we need to be prepared. With the new centre, patients can get treatment for all these infections under one roof.”

UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit agreed with the observations that the management of infectious diseases is the need of the hour and need to prepare for the possible new viruses and mutations that may lead to more challenges.

In 2017, the UT administration had decided to set up a sports injuries centre at the GMCH-32 with a total cost of about ₹70.72 crore. The aim was to provide diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation services to sportspersons, personnel from army and other paramilitary forces.

Besides, the centre would have provided training, offer PG courses in sports medicine as such facilities are not available in the region.

But the construction work of the centre could not be started due to some litigation on the tendering process.

However, the UT administration re-examined the project and decided to drop the project.