The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is planning to initiate various steps to manage the patient rush and their attendants at the institute.
Besides planning to turn vacant areas into temporary parking lots, the institute also plans to deploy free shuttle buses and e-rickshaws at the entrance gate so that people can travel from the main gate to the out-patient department (OPD) building.
Speaking about the same, PGIMER deputy director (administration) Kumar Gaurav Dhawan said, “At first, institute’s six shuttle buses and three e-rickshaws, being run by non-government organisation, will be deployed at main gate (facing Panjab University), which will run from gate to the new OPD building, every 10 minutes. This will limit the rush of auto-rickshaws and vehicles of attendants, inside the institute.”
“The institute has vacant land at the backside of the Oral Health Sciences Centre. The land will be levelled so that it can be used as temporary parking. In the meantime, we will study if the land can be used for making multi-level parking”, he added.
Besides, the institute is also working on setting up a temporary parking area in front of the swimming pool area.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, PGIMER authorities had converted an entire floor of the multi-level parking lot of the new OPD into a waiting area to provide sufficient space to the patients and their attendants.
{{/usCountry}}During the Covid-19 pandemic, PGIMER authorities had converted an entire floor of the multi-level parking lot of the new OPD into a waiting area to provide sufficient space to the patients and their attendants.
{{/usCountry}}“At present, we are keeping the parking floor as a waiting area for attendants. The hall has a sitting capacity of 1,000 people. We are working to provide facilities like drinking water and refreshments in the hall. The institute is also planning to set up new benches outside the emergency and trauma block, and to extend the shed,” the Dhawan said.
Last week too, PGIMER director Vivek Lal had directed installation of additional chairs at the waiting area of the new OPD in a bid to decongest the rush.
It is worth mentioning that work on PGIMER’s second multi-level car parking project, near the new OPD building, is currently underway.
As per the ₹63-crore project plan approved in 2015, the new multi-level parking would constitute seven floors, plus a basement in around 26,000 sq metres of land, with each of the floors having a parking space for nearly 80 cars.
The authorities are working on getting environmental clearances from the UT administration since 2021, a process that has been the outbreak of the pandemic.
On an average, around 10,000 patients visit the PGIMER’s campus daily, including those visiting for consultations in OPDs or getting admitted at the hospital. Over 12,000 vehicles enter the premises daily, but with limited parking facilities, patients, visitors and even the staff members face difficulty in finding a parking space.
In the absence of sufficient parking space, people mostly park their vehicles, especially cars, on the inside roads, causing inconvenience to the people.