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Chandigarh: Mother and child care centre project delayed
In his I-Day speech, UT administrator VP Singh Badnore said the centre will come up at GMSH-16 soon, even as the project is still restricted to planning board
It has genesis in the Chandigarh Master Plan and its architectural plans are in place since 2018, but still the new mother and child care centre to come up at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Sector 16 (GMSH-16) has failed to see the light of day.
In his Independence Day speech, UT administrator VP Singh Badnore had assured, “We will have a mother and child care centre in GMSH-16 soon.” But the reality is, the proposed project is still restricted to the planning board.
“The project and the plot for it, approved in the Chandigarh Master Plan, remains in the planning stage even though the urban planning department had finalised the first draft in 2018. The plan was also submitted with the UT health department, but since then little progress has been made,” said a senior UT official, requesting anonymity.
Tallest building on premises
The 404-bed state-of-the-art centre is planned to come up in the existing building that houses the gynaecology and paediatric facilities. The project entails a seven-storey building, which will be the tallest in the hospital compound.
“As per the plans, the building will be ground plus six storeys with two basements. The total covered area on the ground floor will be around 30,000 sq ft. The total covered area will be 5.42 lakh sq ft. It will be a green building. There would be a number of operating rooms, labour rooms, and other related facilities,” said the official.
Why the delay
The project was first delayed because there were some issues between the gynaecology and paediatric departments. “As the existing building has to be demolished, there was a question as to where to shift the operational departments from the site. It was decided that these would be shifted to Sector 22. But then came the pandemic and some facilities that are to be demolished are currently being used for Covid management,” said the official.
No feasibility study has been done so far and the cost estimates are yet to be finalised, and another obstacle is likely to hit the project delaying it further: “As per rough cost estimates, the project is likely to cost more than ₹100 crore. This would necessitate approval of the Union government, which generally takes a long time,” said the official.
There have been several meetings on the subject between the health and the urban planning departments, but the final nod on the plan hasn’t come through. “The plans are still fluid. The health department is unclear about the details of their requirement. There are issues like requirement of beds, number of operation theatres, labour rooms, patient wards and other related wings,” said the official.
Another similar project hanging fire
Another mother and child care centre, planned to come up at Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, is also languishing at the planning stage. This is the case, even though it was conceptualised long back, approved in 2019 and ₹38 crore allocated for it.
The 334-bed centre will come up in the K block area of the hospital. As per the architectural plan approved, it will spread over 1.11 sq ft area having seven floors plus basement. The administrator in his I-Day speech had also assured that this would also come up “soon”.
