Two MCD hospitals set for Rs15 crore facelift

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which operates the Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital, has invited bids for development works worth ₹15 crore to rejuvenate both healthcare centres.

Parts of both hospitals, built before Independence, had collapsed last year, officials said.

They added that the completion time for the rejuvenation projects has been estimated at nine months.

The civic body plans to spend around ₹4.32 crore to improve the drainage system, the water supply system and renovate toilet blocks and shafts of the main two-storey and six-storey ward blocks of the Hindu Rao Hospital. “Another ₹4 crore will be spent on the OPD block of the Hindu Rao Hospital, which will include a complete overhaul of the drainage system, water proofing of terraces, repair of rooms and shafts. We will undertake repair works worth ₹2.11 crore in the nursing block and ₹2.09 crore in the emergency and casualty sections,” the official explained.

While the MCD is primarily responsible for maintaining sanitation services across the city, Hindu Rao Hospital–the largest municipal hospital run by the civic body located near Delhi University’s north campus–paints a dismal picture of the hygiene with stray dogs roaming in its corridors, dilapidated buildings, spitstains in corners and filthy toilets. The 980-bed tertiary care hospital records over 50,000 admissions, over 18,000 surgeries, deliveries and more than 550,000 OPD patients every year and the civic body is expected to spend around ₹190 crore annually on the healthcare facility, municipal records show. Some buildings in its complex are very old and need immediate repair. Last year on September 23, 2022, a parapet wall of an operation theatre complex collapsed, damaging several vehicles.

Similarly, the Walled City’s Kasturba Hospital, one of the largest maternity hospitals in Asia with 350 beds dedicated to gynaecology and obstetrics, has been facing infrastructure issues. In July last year, a portion of a parapet wall between the hospital’s post-operative ward and medical superintendent’s office collapsed, prompting the civic authorities to order a safety audit of the building. MCD officials said that the corporation will spend around ₹2.5 crore for the structural upgrade and repair of the old sections of the hospital building. “Over the next six months, improvement and structural repair work will be carried out in the OPD section blocks as well as the administrative buildings,” an official added.

Most of the larger hospitals under the civic body were earlier under the jurisdiction of the erstwhile North MCD which was mired in a severe financial crisis over the last decade. The deterioration in infrastructure and ensuing financial burden forced the executive wing to move a proposal to shift all the six major hospitals to the central government in 2018 and 2021. The proposal was shot down by the elected councillors. Hindustan Times