GMCH’S new trauma centre to come up by 2022

TENDER FOR ₹52 CRORE PROJECT FLOATED; UT HAS SET 18 MONTHS AS COMPLETION DEADLINE AFTER ALLOTMENT OF WORK

CHANDIGARH : Work on the longpending new emergency-cumtrauma centre at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, has picked up speed, with the UT engineering department recently floating the tender for construction.

After selection of a private firm for the project, the allotment of work is scheduled to be done by July 20. UT administration has set a deadline of 18 months from allotment of work till completion. If work proceeds as planned, the building may be ready by February 2022.

The 280-bed facility, spread over 1.4 lakh square feet, will come up in place of the covered parking block in front of Block-a.

The UT administration in November last year had approved ₹52 crore for the project. In addition to the construction costs, the budget includes cost of new equipment.

“The engineering department, in the tender floated recently, has invited private firms to complete works worth ₹36.93 crore, which include ₹33.59-crore civil works, ₹1.22-crore public health works and ₹2.11-crore electrical works,” said a senior UT official.

The creation of the new facilities will be a major upgrade for GMCH, an exercise pending for at least a decade. Earlier, there was a plan to make a separate trauma centre in Sector 53.

However, it was dropped after it was suggested that a standalone trauma centre was not possible. Thus, a composite facility comprising emergency and trauma centre were finalised.

Since its inception in 1996-97, GMCH has been catering to patients from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and even farther states. At any given point, there are at least 350 patients in its emergency ward.

FACILITIES PLANNED

The new building will have five operation theatres (OT) and one minor OT.

A 24-bed state-of-the-art intensive care unit (ICU), a 64-bed ward for stable patients, two isolation wards with 33 beds and a 47-bed ambulatory care ward are also part of the plan. There will also be space for around 400 attendants of patients at two levels.

Around 87,000 square feet will be devoted to the operational part, while there will also be a two-level basement of around 55,000 square feet. The facility will have space for wheelchairs, stretchers, ambulances, entrance-exit, waiting area, medical officer/duty doctor/nurse rooms, medicine store, mortuary, laboratory, X-ray room, plaster room, ramps and lifts.