Varanasi: Amidst the chanting of Vedic mantras, the rituals of bhumi pujan (groundbreaking) for the construction of a 500-bed super speciality hospital building were performed on the SSPG divisional hospital premises here on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation of the project during his visit on April 28.
After the rituals, former Uttar Pradesh minister and City South MLA Neelkanth Tiwari informed the gathering that the initiative to convert the decades-old hospital into a modern super speciality hospital by equipping it with world-class medical facilities was aimed at ensuring the best possible treatment for patients in Kashi.
Established between 1870 and 1875, the hospital has catered to patients from many districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, said Tiwari. He added that almost 3,000 patients get registered in the hospital's outdoor patient department daily. The existing infrastructure of the hospital and its deteriorated buildings were proving insufficient to meet the actual demand of patients from the district and adjoining areas.
Now, after removing the old structure, a new eight-storey super speciality building is going to be constructed in its place at a cost of Rs 315.48 crore, he said. The proposed complex will have two towers comprising modern medical technology, cutting-edge machinery, and hi-tech treatment facilities. It will be equipped with modern facilities such as ICU, cancer, neuro, and heart units, and the hospital will become a major health centre for lakhs of patients in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Treatment for serious ailments such as heart, brain, and kidney diseases will be available here for a payment of just one rupee, he added.
The existing 300-bed hospital will be replaced by a 500-bed facility, while the ICU and HDU will have 50 and 100 beds, respectively. A modern dialysis centre, a child unit with a separate ICU, a Central Sterilised Supply Department, OPD, IPD, a private ward, a prisoner ward, a mortuary, an isolation ward, a palliative care ward, laundry, kitchen, cafeteria, pathology, microbiology, biochemistry, blood bank, skilled lab, a burn ward with 14 beds, day care with 15 beds, dialysis with 20 beds, an NRC (Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre) with 30 beds, four operation theatres, and an emergency operation theatre will come up.
In addition, he said, there will be wards for surgery, medicine, paediatrics, orthopaedics, physiotherapy, family medicine, PAC, dental, Ayush, geriatric medicine, nutrition, NCD clinic, psychiatry, and dermatology OPD. The super speciality hospital will offer facilities including cardiology, angioplasty, gastrology, urology, nephrology, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, arthrology, and others.
There will be parking facility for more than 600 vehicles, and hospital administration officials will monitor the construction work as per standards.
Chief Medical Officer and SSPG Hospital Chief Medical Superintendent Jagdish Tripathi, along with Aatma Vishweshwar, Rachna Agarwal, Sadhana Vedanti, and Alok Srivastava, were present on the occasion.
