DH Bandipora set to be equipped with central heating, elevator facilities

Bandipora, Nov 13: The Mechanical Engineering Department (MED) Bandipora has formulated a Rs 4.5 crore detailed project report (DPR) for the district hospital’s elevators and central heating system.

The hospital began functioning from December 2020 at Nusoo, when it was fully shifted from its old and cramped structure. However, after all these years, the central heating system and elevators at the new hospital building are yet to be made functional.

Locals have repeatedly demanded that the facilities at the hospital be made functional, given that wards and operation theaters are located on the top floors of the hospital building, causing huge inconvenience to patients.

Constructed by the Housing Board at nearly 30 crore rupees, the hundred-bed hospital took over a decade to complete. The construction faced several bottlenecks, including some “structural flaws,” exceeding several deadlines before it finally began functioning in December 2020.

Yet in 2019, there were talks from the administration of an additional five crore rupees DPR for lifts and a central heating system, but neither was it prepared nor did it receive any approval, stalling further progress and affecting patients and attendants year-round.

Even as the administration has turned to air conditioners for almost a year and gas heaters, patients are still left shivering in the winter cold due to the lack of proper heating arrangements.

“Wards in winter turn into freezing chambers,” Muzamil Parvaiz, a local, told Greater Kashmir. “Patients and attendants alike endure the bitter cold, especially those who stay overnight,” he added.

“The non-functional lifts are an eyesore year-round,” he added. “Critically ill patients have to walk up four to five floors, which is extremely suffocating.”

Notably, the outlay that the agency had constructed for the lift system never witnessed further progress. The open areas and deep shafts remain covered behind cardboard and plywood to prevent fatal falls.

Now, after renewed outcry to improve the hospital’s functionality, the Mechanical Engineering Department, which has been mandated for such projects after reorganisation under the Handwara hospitals division for north Kashmir, has taken over following “directions and letter” from Director health.

The officials at the department told Greater Kashmir that they have prepared the Rs 4.5 crore DPR for lifts and a central heating system and are in a process to submit it to the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir.

Initially facing some hurdles, officials said they had to collect all the details and physical status and design from the housing board, which had also installed the mechanical pipeline. Additionally, there was a need to add more areas, they said.

“We had to collect all the details from the department and whatever was left out and we had to design it anew, including two lifts,” Sheikh Bilal, Assistant Executive Engineer, Mechanical Department, said.

“There were some areas that the earlier agency had dropped, so we had to include them too and work it out all new,” he added.

The complete central heating system costs 3.5 crores, while the lifts will be functional for 1 crore rupees, the official said.

The DPR will pass from the division office to other offices and finally reach the higher office for approval.

Notably, the development has gained “some pace” following MLA Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat’s recent visit to the hospital, an insider said.

Addressing the scepticism whether the project will get a nod, Bhat told Greater Kashmir, “They should do it and they have to do it,” adding that, “If the hospital has to function, it has to function for patient care. This is the basic necessity for patients.”

Bhat said the department can’t act helpless, or claim they “don’t have money”, stressing, “they have to arrange it and they should do it as it is the basic requirement.”

Also, the Mechanical Department, like hospitals across J&K under the Directorate of Health, has also received renewed administrative approval for the maintenance of the already existing oxygen plant at Bandipora hospital, which has been put for tenders.