Anantnag, Aug 7: The shifting plan of Maternity and Childcare Hospital (MCCH) Anantnag to Rehmat-e-Aalam hospital here has once again hit the roadblock as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in its audit report has raised questions over the safety parameters of the first two-floors of the building.
Both the floors were constructed by Rehmat e Aalam Trust some 20 years back. The work on the remaining two floors of the building was first taken up by the Housing board and later by Jammu and Kashmir project construction corporation (JKPCC).
“The institute has pointed out that there are safety concerns regarding the ground and the first floors. It has recommended that building be used for a purpose other than a hospital,” an official said.
He said that though the building has not been declared unsafe as such, the report, however, mentions that it does not meet the safety parameters for hospital usage.
Earlier, the institute in its safety audit report submitted in January this year suggested the retrofitting and jacketing of vital beams and columns of these two floors to strengthen the building further. However, the institute had not shared the technical details and design following which JKPCC sought the work to be tendered out.
General Manager JKPCC Showkat Ahmad Dar admitted that the first two floors of the building don’t meet the safety standards of the hospital. “It is for the government now to take a call on changing the design of two floors and later shifting the hospital or using it for any other purpose,” Dar said.
An official, however, rued that after spending crores of rupees on the building the same can’t be used as hospital. “Why was not the safety audit undertaken before proceeding with the construction?” he asked.
In February 2017, the government accorded sanction to taking over the building by the Health and Medical Education Department with all its assets and liabilities.
The government had earlier started the process of taking over in 2015. The work on the Rs 12.12 crore hospital was stopped midway, mainly due to a paucity of funds. However, early last year, the former Lieutenant Governor sanctioned Rs 9 crore more for the project. But the work again remained at a halt due to the pending safety audit report.
The MCCH Anantnag caters to entire south Kashmir as well as Chenab and Pir-Panchal Valley.
The hospital is presently housed in an old, dilapidated and unsafe building in the congested Sherbagh locality of the old town.
The 40-bedded hospital gets an average 40,000 patients in the Out-Patient Department (OPD) and about 7000 indoor patients every month.
Further, it always remains overcrowded with two to three patients sharing a single bed while the beds have even been put in the corridor.
Space crunch has for long been taking a toll on the healthcare of the patients and at times forcing the doctors to unnecessarily refer pregnant women and children to hospitals in Srinagar.
The hospital has also hogged the headline for deaths of expecting mothers. The shifting of the hospital would have given relief to the people but for now, it seems highly unlikely.