Delhi govt added 394 beds to 38 hospitals in 3 years

In its election manifesto, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised to increase the bed strength in Delhi hospitals by 30,000.

The Delhi government has added 394 beds in 38 of its hospitals, including AYUSH hospitals, over the past three years, according to an answer submitted in the Delhi Assembly on Monday.

Of the hospitals being remodelled by Delhi government, the highest number of beds would be added to the government’s biggest multi-speciality LNJP hospital (Arun Sharma / HT Photo)

In the response to the query by a member of the House, the government stated that there were 10,959 beds in the Delhi-government hospitals in 2014-15, which went up to 11,353 in 2017-18 as per the annual report of the directorate of health services.

“In budget 2018-19, it has been described that to ensure better health care facilities for our citizens, our government will increase the total bed strength in our hospitals from 10,000 to 20,000,” the answer said.

The deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had allocated Rs 450 crores for the ongoing construction of three new hospitals and remodelling of existing government hospitals.

The deadline for the three hospitals, which will add 2,609 beds to the existing ones have been pushed further. Earlier, the government had said that the hospitals were to come up by February and March 2019, now two of the hospitals will come up by November 2019 and one by March 2020, according to the reply.

The 600-bed hospital in Ambedkar Nagar is 98% complete, the 768 bed hospital in Burari is 92% done, and the 1,214 bed hospital in Dwarka sector 9 is 80% finished, according to the government.

The government also plans to add 8,814 beds by remodelling 19 of its existing hospitals. Earlier, only seven of its hospitals were to be remodelled.

Of the hospitals being remodelled, the highest number of beds – 1,800 -- would be added to the government’s biggest multi-speciality hospital Lok Nayak. The hospital sees more than 7,000 patients in its out-patient clinics every day. This will be followed by Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital in Hari Nagar, where 900 beds would be added.

The government will also add 250 beds to the Rajiv Gandhi Superspeciality hospital in Tahirpur, according to the answer. Initially planned as a 650-bed multi- superspeciality hospital, the hospital has only about 200 beds so far.

In its election manifesto, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised to increase the bed strength in Delhi hospitals by 30,000.

The total bed strength in Delhi, including in hospitals run by the Centre, the civic bodies, and the private players, has gone up by around 9,000 between 2014 and 2017. Most of these beds are in private sector hospitals.