Made functional 2 years ago, 400-bed Faridabad hospital yet to admit patients

Tribune News Service

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, April 17

The state government-owned 400-bed Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Hospital at Chhainsa village in the district is yet to start admission facilities, despite spending funds to the tune of several crores. It was made functional about two years ago.

Rs 2.65 cr monthly salary bill

Though an expense of Rs 2.65 crore is borne on the monthly salaries of 523 staff members, it is yet to begin in-patient department and emergency services, according to Health Department sources

Though an expense of Rs 2.65 crore is borne on the monthly salaries of 523 staff members, it is yet to begin in-patient department and emergency services, according to Health Department sources.

While Rs 47.25 crore has been spent on its construction and repair works on its building since the takeover in 2020, the indoor treatment facilities have failed to take off due to several reasons, including compliance of norms, construction of STP and certification of the services to be launched, the sources said.

Though the OPD has been made functional, the number of patients reporting here have been poor in the wake of inadequate diagnosis services and lack of facilities like surgery, operating theatre, ICU and admittance to wards, said an employee on condition of anonymity. Postmortem and mortuary services are also yet to start.

“Unavailability of mandatory services has been a cause of concern,” said Satish Chopra, a social activist. The delay defeated the purpose for which the institution was set up, and at stake was the career of MBBS students in the absence of proper training facilities. Expected to come up as a referral hospital, on the pattern of AIIMS, it was a white elephant, he claimed.

Located about 20 km from the district headquarters, this is the second government institution here after the ESIC Medical College and Hospital. It was started after the government took over a non-operational private institution in 2015. While it was handed over to the Army to run it as a Covid hospital in 2021, it became functional in 2022, and admitted the first batch of 100 students for the MBBS course. The college will be admitting the third batch this year.

Dr BM Vashist, Director of the hospital, said the OPD and diagnostic services were running, and the emergency and indoor facilities were likely to be launched soon, once the process of approvals and certifications was completed. While students were being trained in civil and other hospitals, super-specialty services were also proposed to be started, he added.

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