Rajiv Gandhi Hospital starts heart surgery dept

NEW DELHI: Rajiv Gandhi Superspeciality Hospital in Tahirpur, which is Delhi government’s second superspeciality hospital after GB Pant Hospital, started its cardiac surgery department, a 16-bed ICU, and a new operation theatre (OT) complex on Thursday.

Patients in need of complex heart surgeries can get the procedure done for free at the hospital for now. “The department has just been set up. Initially, we have decided to provide the services for free. Thereafter, we will approach the government to decide the user fee. It is likely to be on par with the CGHS rates,” Dr BL Sherawal, medical director of the hospital, said.

Two surgeons and a trained team, including cardiac anaesthesiologists, have been hired to run the cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery department. So far, two open-heart surgeries have been performed at the hospital, which now has 200 functional beds.

With two days for heart surgeries, the team aims to do four to five operations a week. “Later on, when everything starts running smoothly, we will increase the number as patients in need of such surgeries have to wait years to get it at government hospitals,” Sherawal said.

Three central government hospitals – AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML, and Delhi government-run GP Pant provide these services.

The service has begun 11 years after the first outpatient clinic was started and three years after the hospital started admitting patients for different surgical procedures.

The 13-acre hospital was planned as a 650-bed superspeciality facility.