Jammu, Aug 23: Having failed to meet deadlines thrice, the much-talked about Super Specialty hospital--to be developed on the pattern of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi—of the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu is unlikely to be made functional this year, courtesy administrative red-tapism and slow pace of construction work.
 Official sources told Greater Kashmir that construction work on mega super specialty hospital was going on with slow pace, while the infrastructure like procurement of medical equipments and establishment of Operation Theatres (OTs) were also facing administrative bottlenecks.
 “Central Power Works Department (CPWD), which has been entrusted the task to complete the project, has established only three OTs out of total six till date, while purchase of other medical equipments are also running in rough weather,” sources maintained.
 Sources added that though the state government has not fixed any revised deadline for the completion of the project, it is unlikely that the project will see the light of the day by the end of this year. “The project still may take some time in view of varied bureaucratic hassles,” they said.
 The 220-bedded super specialty hospital, a project which was envisaged by the former Chief Minister and present Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2006, has already missed three deadlines. Azad had fixed a deadline of 18 month from the date of commencement of construction work.
 Later, the government fixed December 2010 as the second deadline which the executing agencies failed to meet. The deadline was revised again and the government set June 30, 2011 to make the hospital functional. The hospital, if completed, would house six specialties reducing burden on the GMCH to a considerable level.
 Six super specialties, which had been proposed to be shifted to the upcoming mega hospital, include Cardiology, Neurology, Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS), Nephrology, Urology and Neuro Surgery.
 Earlier, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee led government had announced the construction of a hospital on the pattern of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu and other States at the fag end of its term in February 2004.
 “The government had recently advertised some posts of specialists and para-medical staff for the hospital but the fate of recruitment process still hangs in balance. Even the existing GMCH and its allied hospitals are still facing severe shortage of doctors and para-medical staff,” sources maintained.
 On August 18, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while responding to a query vis-à-vis inordinate delay in making super specialty hospital functional had said, “Various projects did face slippage for various reasons including the situation that prevailed in the state like Amarnath land imbroglio of 2008.
 “The agitation was a major set back for the delay in the completion of super specialty hospital in Jammu. Second major reason for delay is that it is being implemented by central agency CPWD. By and large, we try and ensure that the deadlines are maintained. If the deadlines are not maintained, we try to find out the reason for the slippage and if the reason is not valid, the persons and the organisations are held accountable,” Omar had said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST