Super-specialty hospital to come up at JJ campus

Maharashtra’s first public super-specialty hospital, a 20-storey tower, with more than 800 beds, is all set to come up at the premises of the state-run JJ hospital at Byculla.

Maharashtra’s first public super-specialty hospital, a 20-storey tower, with more than 800 beds, is all set to come up at the premises of the state-run JJ hospital at Byculla.

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The facility, which will cost Rs 690 crore totally, will replace the old nurses quarters on the existing 44-acre JJ hospital campus. “Considering the increasing need for super-specialty and the growing number of patients for public medical care, we have decided to go ahead with this plan,” chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, while announcing the decision taken by the state cabinet on Monday.

Currently, the JJ hospital is facing a space crunch — it treats around 6.7 lakh outpatients annually and sees around 48,000 admissions every year. This is estimated to reach 8 lakh outpatients and 60,000 admissions in the next five years.

The state has estimated a cost of Rs479 crore for construction of the main building and Rs150 crore for getting new equipment in place, Chavan added. This will be completed in the first phase of the project. Of the Rs479 crore, Rs103 crore will be kept aside for construction of staff quarters and hostels for students, which will be taken up in the second phase of construction. Besides, Rs19 crore will be set aside annually for any additional costs.

Chavan added that while hospitals are allowed only 5.23 floor space index (FSI) and cannot be over 30 metres high, the development plan (DP) department will be approached for relaxation of this rule for this project.