Proposed, on paper for years, PGI facilities yet to take off

Despite the slow pace of progress on its ongoing works, the premier health institute of the region, the PGI, is on way to introduce several new centres to ease patient load.

Despite the slow pace of progress on its ongoing works, the premier health institute of the region, the PGI, is on way to introduce several new centres to ease patient load. As the flagship project of PGI director Prof K K Talwar, the Advanced Cardiac Care Centre, readies for a partial opening on November 17, Newsline takes a look at the development and plans of the leading projects of the institute.

Advanced Cardiac Centre: Opposite the School of Public Health, the Rs 46-crore project has been under construction for the last four years. The 200-bed centre would assist patients of the cardiology and cardiovascular surgery departments. Moving at a snail8217;s pace, with completion deadlines extending every month, the PGI authorities now say the centre will be ready for OPD services from November 17. Equipment worth over Rs 8 crore was purchased for the centre, which is lying unused at present.

8220;We are planning to shift all OPD services of both the departments and the non-invasive investigations to the new centre from the next week. By January, all services, including the catheterisation laboratory or cath labs and the OTs would be functional,8221; said a senior faculty.

The Advanced Cardiac Centre has four operation theatres and three cath labs. The two-storeyed centre is spread over 2.80 lakh sq ft.

8220;We receive around 200 OPD cardiology patients everyday at the PGI. Once the centre is functional, the load of patients at the OPD block and the Nehru Hospital would ease,8221; added a senior faculty. Meanwhile, even as the structure of the centre nears completion, the faculty in-charge is yet to be decided.

Advanced Trauma Centre: On papers as a proposal for over a decade, formally sanctioned by the government way back in the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the Advanced Trauma Centre is under construction for more than two years. Coming up adjacent to the existing Emergency, this ambitious project, which once had on its plans a helipad for faster transportation of patients, is to come up on an area of 1.12 lakh sq ft. The sanctioned amount for the project is Rs 17.50 crore.

8220;The PGI Emergency is already under heavy pressure with 200 per cent occupancy at any given time. The trauma centre would strengthen the emergency care at the institute with the help of state-of-art-facilities,8221; said PGI spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar.

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The centre is designed to have 6 OTs with around 200 beds in the General, ICU, Observation and Private wards. Cases of four main departments -neurosurgery, orthopaedics, plastic and general surgery would be handled by the centre.

Pet scan: PET scan for the exact diagnosis of cancer cells in the body is hanging fire for the past few months due to the ongoing construction of the PET Centre. Construction to house the Rs 8-crore machinery is still underway near the PGI emergency. With the previous deadline of August already lapsed and the revised deadline of October also over, officials say due to the delay in construction, the project is taking time.

New facilities, centres at PGI in recent years:

Advanced Eye centre

Drug de-addiction centre

Multi-storey parking outside the new OPD block

Burns Unit and Hepatology ICUs

Advanced Urology Centre

Bone Marrow Transplant Centre