Delhi govt to soon commission two super speciality hospitals

Health Minister A K Walia today said eminent neurologist M M Mehndiratta has been selected as Director for Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital while another specialist Sunil Kumar Khatri will be appointed as head of Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital.

The Delhi government in June had decided to hand over the management of the two hospitals to a society comprising central and city government officials.

"We will commission the two hospitals at the earliest," Walia said, without giving specific time-frame for their commissioning.

The construction of the hospitals at Janakpuri and Tahirpur was completed in 2009 and the government had planned to run them under PPP model but last year the plan was dropped and the Union Health Ministry was approached to run them.

The hospital at Janakpuri has been constructed on an 8.82-acre plot at a total cost of Rs 72 crore while the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital at Tahirpur, spread over a 13-acre area, cost the government Rs 88 crore.

Both the hospitals have a total bed capacity of 1,000 and they will have specialised health care facilities in the fields of cardiology, nephrology, urology, oncology, renal transplant, gastroenterology, radiology, pathology and microbiology.

The societies of both the hospitals will be headed by Chief Secretary of Delhi and they will comprise top officials of the Union Health Ministry.

The Delhi government currently runs 42 hospitals, including four super speciality hospitals.

Walia said the Delhi government would provide state-of- art equipment and technology to ensure best possible treatment to the patients.

"These hospitals would be managed in a professional manner and will be granted flexibility to carry out day-to-day services," Walia said.

Officials said it was decided to run the hospitals under "society set up" as it is extremely difficult to get highly qualified and specialist doctors in normal government system.