Govt toying with superspeciality centre projects

The Delhi government is planning to open dedicated superspeciality centres for eyecare, heartcare and treatment of liver in the Capital. The government hopes to acheive its target in a year.

The government will set up four centres for eyecare, four for heartcare and four for liver treatment in the city, Health Minister Satyendra Jain told Deccan Herald on Sunday. Each of the centres will be headed by an existing leading hospital, with the number of superspeciality centres going up to five in Delhi. 

“The idea is to have at least one superspeciality centre in North District, South District, East District, West District and Central District. The new centres will come up in the existing hospital premises in the district. This will help patients access other diagnostic services easily,” said Jain.

The eyecare centres will be lead by Guru Nanak Eye Centre, the heartcare units by G B Pant Hospital and the liver treatment centres by the Institute of Liver and Billiary Sciences (ILBS). “The new units will be an extension of the services available with these institutions. We have set a year as the target to set up these units,” said Jain.

With these units, there will be no need to refer patients to other hospitals for sophisticated services.  

The government now trying to double the number of hospital beds at the existing hospitals. The acute shortage of beds in the city is the major challenge in the health sector which needs to be addressed first, said the Minister. 

“We will double the capacity of beds in two and a half years period.”“There is a need for a radical transformation in the health sector. Things are functioning without any major change for years,” Jain told Deccan Herald on the 100 days of completion of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Even though the AAP had made major announcements to improve patient care in the city with some projects to immediately take off, several promises remain pending. 

Availability of medicinesThe availability of medicines, kits and other essentials at major government hospitals still continues to be poor. Some hospitals do not have the basic equipment to carry out diagnostic services. The hospitals are also reeling under severe staff shortage.

The government’s plan to open a pharmacy giving out medicines at subsidised rates to poor patients still remains pending.

“We are reviewing the projects which we have not completed so far. The pharmacy will be opened soon and we will give out medicines completely for free now. We are trying to achieve 100 per cent availability of medicines in the next 20 days. We have centralised the system for procurement of medicines and it will bring transparency to the system,” said Jain.