JOIN USRam Manohar Lohia Hospital is set to have a four-storeyed dharamsala on Mandir Marg in two months. The dharamsala aims to accommodate outstation patients, especially in their post-operative phase.
The dharamsala, which has been built at a cost of around Rs 6 crore, is located at a distance of slightly over a kilometre from the hospital campus.
The building will be commissioned on June 1. Following this, the hospital authorities will fix water and electricity connections. “We are hoping that the dharamsala will be operational from July. A lift will be installed soon too,” said Dr H K Kar, medical superintendent of the hospital.
The short-stay home has 40 rooms. While rooms will be available on twin-sharing basis, the facility of dormitories is also available. “We will be able to accommodate 80 people at a time,” said Kar.
The ground floor of the short-stay home will have a common kitchen with a dining hall for the patients.
“The rooms and the kitchen will be well-furnished. The hospital authorities will also be in charge of the housekeeping,” said Dr Anjan Prakash, additional medical superintendent of the hospital.
The hospital aims to ease the pressure that wards experience because of the huge number of patients admitted here. Spread over 30 acres, the hospital has 984 beds which cater to patients from across the country.
“Often, we cannot discharge outstation patients in their post-operative stage because they need dressing. As most of our patients come from far-flung areas, we cannot ask them to come back to the hospital only for subsequent follow-ups because several of them cannot manage the travel expenses,” said Prakash.
“The dharamsala will not only aid the outstation patients, but also help us accommodate more patients in the hospital,” she added.
While the authorities are planning to ferry patients for free from the short-stay home to the hospital, they are also considering roping in an NGO to run the dharamsala.