Tender floated for Rs 161-cr mother and child health centre in Faridabad civil hospital

The construction of mother and child health centre (MCH) in the Civil Hospital here is set to begin soon after a delay of over two years.

With the tender of Rs 161 crore released recently, the construction work on the seven-storeyed building of the centre having a 200-bed capacity, will be taken up by the PWD, revealed officials of the district administration. Pradeep Sindhu, Executive Engineer, PWD, said work on the project was expected to begin within eight weeks as tenders will be opened soon.The opening of the technical bids is expected next week, said an official.

Old building to be demolished

• The project allotted to the PWD also includes the construction of a new multi-storeyed building to replace the old CMO office building
• The centre aims to provide state-of-the-art medical facilities like delivery rooms, an operation theatre and NeoNatal ICU
• Beside beds for patients of pre and post-delivery cases, the centre has a capacity to admit 200 patients at a time

Though the project was proposed way back in 2021-22, the final budget was allocated in February, it is revealed. The state government had approved the MCH at various civil hospitals including Faridabad, Nuh, Panipat, Panchkula and Sonepat districts in order to provide state-of-the-art medical care facilities to expecting mothers and newborns in the government hospitals.

The project allotted to the PWD also includes the construction of a new multi-storeyed building to replace the old CMO office building in the civil hospital premises, which has been lying in a dilapidated state, according to Health Department officials. It is claimed that work had been stuck due to certain technical hurdles and slow pace of work on the part of the authorities concerned. The changes in the building plan drawings and the revision in the budget of the project are being cited as reasons behind the delay, it is reported. It is claimed that though funds to the tune of several crores had already been released by the Health Department, the PWD’s final drawings of the project were approved a few months ago.

The project involves the demolition of the old CMO office building before construction work begins in January. The total budget allocated for the project is reported to be around Rs 161 crore. The centre aims to provide state-of-art medical and health care facilities like delivery rooms, an operation theatre (OT) and NeoNatal ICU, beside beds for patients of pre and post-delivery cases. With around 2,200 patients reporting at the OPD daily, 25-30 deliveries are conducted on any given day. Delivery huts functioning at the PHCs (Primary Health Centres) or CHCs (Community Health Centre) face staff crisis, they added.