Solan hospital gets land for new building

SOLAN:The government has finally transferred 59814 sqm land to the Health and Family Welfare Department for the construction of a multifacility hospital building of the Regional Hospital on the Kather bypass here

Updated At : 12:50 PM Aug 21, 2019 IST

The regional hospital in Solan, which lacks space to cater to the burgeoning patient inflow. Tribune photo

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 20

The government has finally transferred 59,814 sqm land to the Health and Family Welfare Department for the construction of a multi-facility hospital building of the Regional Hospital on the Kather bypass here.

The district administration had identified the land for which NOCs had been obtained from the PWD, Irrigation and Public Health Department, Town and Country Planning Department, municipal committee, HP State Electricity Board Limited as well as Forest Department. A resolution had also been passed by Basal gram panchayat for transfer of the land.

The district administration also said it was a non-forest land and it did not attract provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 which was considered an additional positive point. In a bid to ensure that if some trees were required to be axed for constructing the new hospital, permission under Section 221 of the HP Municipal Council Act, 1994, could be obtained.

Additional District Magistrate Vivek Chandel said the Revenue Department gave its nod for the land transfer on Friday evening.

The construction of the new hospital had become mandatory as the existing building of the Regional Hospital in Solan faced space crunch and was unable to handle the booming patient influx from Solan and Sirmaur districts.

The hospital witnesses an outdoor patient influx of 1,200 to 1,500 per day and the paucity of space forced them to queue up in the corridors. Though the demand to construct a new hospital is being raised for years, the successive governments have failed to pay heed to it.

The process to construct a new hospital had begun in August last year when the Health Minister had selected a site on the Kather bypass. This had paved the way for transferring the land from various departments after seeking their NOCs. The process took several months and though the district administration had sent the case to the Revenue Department, some queries had been raised.

A proposal had been mooted about 15 years ago and a site on the highway was selected, but it was later dropped owing to pressure from the chemist lobby, who had resisted the move to relocate their business establishments.

The lack of space has also stalled the implementation of key Central health programmes. The setting up of an early intervention centre to ensure early detection of deformities and deficiencies to improve the survival rate was also being delayed in the existing hospital and these centres were proposed to be set up in the new hospital.

Old building lacks space.

The construction of the new hospital had become mandatory as the existing building of the Regional Hospital in Solan faced space crunch
It was unable to handle the booming patient influx from Solan and Sirmaur districts
The hospital witnesses an outdoor patient influx of 1,200 to 1,500 per day forcing them to queue up in the corridors
Though the demand to construct a new hospital is being raised for years, the successive governments have failed to pay heed to it.
The lack of space has also stalled the implementation of key Central health programmes.