Delhi government is going to take big steps to strengthen and modernize health services. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has announced to create an autonomous medical institute on the lines of AIIMS by integrating Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (GTB), Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH). Besides, work will also be started on the plan to develop Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) as NIMHANS-2 in future. The government has said that they want to make Delhi a big medical centre.
Recently, this topic was discussed in the Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and senior officials of various departments including Health Minister Dr. Pankaj Kumar Singh. In this, proposals to create a strong and modern health system by integrating the major government medical institutions of Delhi were discussed in detail. In this, the Chief Minister suggested that scientific and effective use of available resources is necessary to improve health services. For this, integration of different institutions will enable better utilization of doctors, specialists, equipment and infrastructure.
The pressure of beds and patients in hospitals will reduce
The status of beds available in hospitals and the increasing pressure of patients were also discussed in the meeting. Officials said that the pressure of patients in some hospitals is very high, while the capacity of some hospitals is not being fully utilized. Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital has a total capacity of 650 beds, but currently only about 250 beds are in use and about 400 beds are vacant. On the other hand, the number of patients in GTB Hospital is quite high. More than 1500 beds are being used here against the original capacity of about 1400 beds. According to the data of patients, every year more than 14 lakh patients come to the OPD of GTB Hospital and about 95 thousand patients take IPD services. At the same time, about 1.27 lakh OPD patients come to Delhi State Cancer Institute and about 2.87 lakh OPD patients are registered in Rajiv Gandhi Hospital. It is clear from these figures that the pressure of patients on GTB hospital is high, while the capacity of other hospitals is not being fully utilised.
Everyone will get super specialty services
The Chief Minister said that after the integration of the three hospitals, there will be systematic delivery of various super specialty services. According to the proposal, services like cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, gastro surgery, nephrology, urology, rheumatology and clinical hematology will be strengthened in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital. Delhi State Cancer Institute will be made a premier center for cancer treatment, where services like radiation oncology, surgical oncology, nuclear medicine, palliative care and radio imaging will be integrated. At the same time, departments like Orthopedics, Internal Medicine, ENT, General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Endocrinology and Ophthalmology will be further strengthened in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.
There will be better use of expensive medical equipment
It was decided in the meeting that modern medical equipment is available in many hospitals, but due to lack of expert staff and scattered resources, they are not being fully utilized. For example, Rajiv Gandhi Hospital has advanced bronchoscopy facility, Delhi State Cancer Institute has Linear Accelerator for Radiotherapy, Rajiv Gandhi Hospital has Cath Lab and Echo Lab, while GTB Hospital has facilities like Bone Bank. The government says that under the integrated system, coordinated and better use of all these expensive equipment will be ensured, which will enable patients to get more effective treatment.
NIMHANS-2 will be equipped with modern facilities
The Delhi government is planning to develop the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) on the lines of the prestigious National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. Under this scheme, Ihbas will provide about 75 acres of its vacant land to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, so that a huge integrated medical institute can be developed here. Ihbass owns a total of 111.69 acres of land, of which a large portion is currently vacant and is considered suitable for future expansion. At present the hospital building of the institute is spread over an area of about 19.9 acres. According to the government plan, modern health infrastructure will be built in place of old and dilapidated buildings. Under this project, new hostels, state-of-the-art labs, pathology and biochemistry facilities, auditoriums and lecture theaters will be built.