500-bed facility to be added to IGGMC&H, Nitin Gadkari performs bhoomipujan

Staff Reporter

After a wait of 5 years, finally, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMC&H) got approval for 500-bed independent facility in its premises. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari performed bhoomipujan for the project, on Saturday. IGGMC&H had prepared first proposal in 2019 during the regime of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis but it had some deficiencies which were removed later. When Mahavikas Aaghadi took over, the issue remained pending. When Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power in 2022, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis pushed for the proposal which was sent again by the IGGMC&H administration in September 2022. The proposal was finally sanctioned recently which will add the healthcare facilities to IGGMC&H in a big way. The new building will replace the paying wards which are being demolished.

On Saturday, the bhoomipujan was performed at the hands of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. MLC Pravin Datke, MLA Vikas Kumbhare, ex-Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari, District Collector Dr Vipin Itankar, Director of Medical Education and Research, Dr Dileep Mhaisekar, and ex-MLA Dr Milind Mane also were present. Dr Ravi Chavan, supported by Dr Vipin Itankar, has been pushing for the project since long. There are some British era buildings in the premises of IGGMC&H. Seeking assistance from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), the hospital administration had conducted a structural audit of the same. As per the audit by VNIT, Ward numbers 7, 8, 3, 4 of Medicine and Paediatrics were found under the Damage Class 4 category, and were not in use since.

Meanwhile Ward numbers 10, 11, 12 of the TB department also were in a bad condition. As the administration stopped using all these wards, the capacity of Paediatrics, Medicine and TB came down drastically. Majority part of the premises has been in Damage Class 4 category. If functioning of those wards was to stop, it would cause inconvenience to patients visiting the hospital. Also, if the standard guidelines of National Medical Commission (NMC) are taken into account then number of beds at the hospital are very less for 200 students. As per the proposal, the new building will be of 11 floors needing Rs 145.54 crore cost for construction. It will house departments including Medicine, Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Skin, Paediatrics and TB. It will also have min operation theatre (OT), emergency OT, blood bank, 30-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 30-bed Medical ICU, 20-bed Neonatal ICU, Respiratory Intermediate Care Unit, 30-bed geriatric ward and other departments. The proposal has given due importance to Department of Skin and Psychiatry, too, which will have one unit each initially. Gadkari has asked the administration to attach the hospital with the Metro station to facilitate easy access to the visiting patients. This will also help resolve parking issue, he added.