Delhi Government has approved the plan to construct three new government hospitals to increase access to secondary and tertiary care to the patients.
Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mr Manish Sisodia headed Expenditure Finance Committee approved the projects on Monday, and the construction will start in the next two months.
Each of the three hospitals is to have around 650 beds as per the initial plan, thereby adding 1950 beds in the National Capital, Health Minister Mr Satyendar Jain informed.
The new hospitals will be constructed in Madipur, Hastsal and Jwalapuri areas of Delhi. These locations have been selected given their high population density and lack of government hospital facility in proximity. Madipur is located in West Delhi and is an urban slum area. Hastsal (near Vikaspuri) and Jwalapuri (in Nagloi) are inhabited by urban, rural and semi-urban population. The three hospitals will cater to over 40 lakhs populations, who currently travel approximately 5 kms (or 30 minutes) to the closest government facility.
Apart from increasing access to tertiary healthcare and reducing the out-of-pocket expenses of patients, the construction of these hospitals will also reduce the burden on the existing government facilities. Analysis of the five years data for the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital (which is approximately 5 kms from the Madipur,Hastsal and Jwalapuri) shows that OPD attendance had increased from 5.5 lakh in 2011 to 6.82 lakh in 2016, with continued increase thereafter. The corresponding increase for indoor admissions is 5360 patients from 3490 patients. Construction of new hospitals will enable reduction in patient burden, and increase in beds per patient.
“Our aim is free and quality healthcare for all patients, regardless of their income status. To achieve this aim, increasing access to healthcare is of paramount importance. We want to bring healthcare provisions close to people’s home so that they don’t have to spend their money on travelling or on private facilities. We want to increase the number of beds so that no patient is denied because of unavailability of services. Strengthening public healthcare provisions is mandatory for any state which wants to benefit its residents,” stated the Delhi Health Minister, Satyendar Jain.
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