Seven years after a comprehensive redevelopment plan for the makeover of Lady Hardinge Medical College and associated hospitals (LHMC) was approved, the remodelling work has finally resumed. The move comes after doctors' bodies at the hospital protested against the stalled work.
Once the Rs 882 crore project is completed, the hospital would have four buildings, including a super speciality block, an academic block and a trauma centre. The project was approved in 2011 and was supposed to be completed by 2014. However, there has been no work that has taken place since three years, and buildings are still under construction.
Resident doctors and students underwent a great deal of hardship, including sitting on a hunger strike, to get the work restarted. The agitations included waving of black flags at the Union health minister. "We had been fighting for the patients. Once these buildings are completed, a large number of Delhi's patients can be admitted here. It will provide them with relief. LHMC is a century-old medical college, but still lacks basic facilities and infrastructure. Resident Doctors' Association (RDA), along with the students' union and nurses' union, had agreed to join us in this protest," said Dr Vivek Chauksey, president, Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA), an umbrella body of resident doctors.
The staff at LHMC had gone on three strikes in the past, including one hunger strike by Dr Vivek Chauksey.
Currently, patients requiring super-specialty consultation are referred to other hospitals which has led to anger and aggression among patients and attendants due to unavailability of facilities at LHMC.
In a letter to Union health minister JP Nadda, RDA members asked to look into the comprehensive redevelopment plan of the hospital and the four buildings which form part of this proposal. Because of the stalled nature of the project, they said, the hospital was unable to acquire other projects. The ministry promised to start the work in three months, which it has now done.
LONG STRUGGLE
- Resident doctors and students underwent a lot of hardship, including going on a hunger strike.
- They waved black flags at the Union health minister as well.
- They say once the revamp is completed, the hospital can house a number of Delhi’s patients.
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