State govt approves demolition of Civil Hospital

The demolition of the Civil Hospital in Civil Lines, which has been pending for almost a year due to land transfer issues, has finally been approved by the state

The demolition of the Civil Hospital in Civil Lines, which has been pending for almost a year due to land transfer issues, has finally been approved by the state government.

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A letter of approval for razing the existing structure to the ground was received last week, confirmed officials of the health department.

“The estimated cost from the auctioning of debris amounting ₹48,48,000 has been approved by the state government,” said Dr Jaswant Singh Punia, chief medical officer(CMO).

“Since the dismantling of the existing hospital structure has been allowed by the state government, the Public Works Department (PWD) will take over the project now. The PWD will have to transfer the cost of the debris to the health department after the auction,” he said.

Sandeep Singh, executive engineer, PWD department, however, said, “While the health department has received the letter, we are yet to get any official confirmation. Once we get the official nod, we will have to further look into the details of the estimated cost for the debris that will be auctioned. At the state-level, decisions are yet to be taken on the auctioning process.”

In 2018, the state government approved ₹260 crores to redevelop the Civil Hospital into a 300-bed multi-super-speciality institution. The necessity of redeveloping the hospital was felt after several instances of poor infrastructure were highlighted. The PWD in its 2015 and 2017 reports stated that the building wasn’t fit to be used and needed urgent renovation.

Officials say the demolition could not happen so long due to a delay in land transfer. As per the approved plan, the hospital spread over seven acres will be expanded to nine acres by using a portion of land from an adjacent government school.

“Two acres of land under the education department has to be included in the new infrastructure. The sanction for demolition was granted only after the issue got resolved at the state level,” said Punia.

The 53-year-old hospital was vacated last year and several of its departments were shifted to the Civil Hospital in Sector 10 and a polyclinic in Sector 31. With the final approval of demolition, Punia said that a couple of departments still functioning in the old complex will also be shifted.

“In the next 15 days, we will be shifting the remaining departments, such as leprosy, tuberculosis and vaccine storage to the Sector-10 hospital,” Punia said, adding that nearly 80% of the facilities and staff were shifted last year to Sector 10 hospital and Sector 31 polyclinic.

In May 2019, the emergency and casualty department, the gynaecology unit, the early intervention centre, which treats children suffering from congenital diseases, were moved to Sector 10, along with CT-scan services, pharmacies and the office of the principal medical officer.

The surgery, medicine and orthopaedic departments were shifted to the polyclinic in Sector 31.