The Much-Delayed Public Super-Specialty Hospital Gets State OK

Seven years after it was first announced, JJ’s super specialty hospital has been given an administrative approval. This means that tenders can now be floated for the Rs 963 crore project. The state will allocate the first installment of Rs 150 crore in this year’s budget. Chief Secretary D K Jain confirmed to Mirror, “We have given an administrative approval to the JJ Hospital super specialty hospital project.”
With administrative clearance in place, the bidding process is expected to start soon. The project was announced in 2012 but got mired in various clearances problems. Tatyasaheb Lahane, director of state medical education department, said that tenders will be floated after eight days and the government will allocate Rs 150 crore as the first installment in the budget session of the Assembly, from February 25 to March 1. “At present, we have a hospital with a capacity of 1352 patients. The new 10-storey building will add another 1100 beds.” The new building will have 21 operation theatres and 60 beds for day care. It will also have 200 beds for cardiac care and 250 bed nursing home, Lahane said.

Medical Education minister Girish Mahajan said, “The project has been given an administrative approval. We are trying our best to float tenders in the next 10 days. But the bhoomi poojan can happen only after the code of conduct for elections is over.” The JJ campus is spread over 43 acres and sees a footfall of around 3000 outpatients a day and 300 admissions. Lahane, who designed the plan for the hospital as then dean of JJ hospital, said that blood samples, urine samples and other samples will be sent by pneumatic chutes. The hospital will also have a helipad to allow transportation of patients by helicopters during emergencies. On May 11, 2012, the then chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad and then medical education secretary Milind Mhaiskar paid a surprise visit to the hospital and outlined the need for a super specialty hospital. After a long battle with heritage experts over tearing down the 108-year-old building to make way for the super specialty hospital, JJ finally got the permission of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committtee in 2016. – Mumbai Mirror