Gaya: Patients and attendants will have to wait at least three months to get the new 50-bed emergency ward at Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital in place of the existing 16-bed arrangement.

The present ward was built more than four decades back and it has virtually become redundant in view of its dilapidated structure and shortage of basic amenities like clean toilets. On account of shortage of beds in the emergency ward, several admitted patients have to be placed on the floor said RTI activist Brijnandan Pathak.

The emergency ward should have been ready long back, the activist added.

According to ANMCH superintendent Dr SK Sinha, the new emergency ward was likely to be commissioned within three months. He said the basic infrastructure is ready and installing oxygen supply pipe line, beds and others was being done.

Confirming that the emergency ward construction got delayed, the hospital superintendent attributed it to several issues, including religious belief. There was a peepal tree on the piece of land earmarked for the new emergency ward, said the superintendent. The peepal is regarded as sacred by the Hindus and construction workers were not ready to cut the tree to facilitate construction work. After much persuasion, the workers reluctantly agreed to remove the tree.

The work was being done by the Bihar State Medical Infrastructure Development Corporation. The corporation will hand over the emergency ward to the hospital management in a ready-to-use condition. It will be a G + 1 structure and would be further expanded to make it a G + 3 facility, said Dr Sinha.

Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital is the only tertiary healthcare institution of the Magadh division comprising the districts of Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad, Jehanabad and Arwal having a combined population of nearly one crore.

Besides Magadh division, patients from Chatra and Koderma districts in Jharkhand come to the hospital.

On an average, around 60 patients are admitted to the emergency ward daily, said the superintendent. Some of the patients are subsequently transferred to the medical, surgery or other wards.

"The upcoming emergency ward is a case of too little, too late." said Congress leader Md Moosa, adding: "Single roof service will continue to elude emergency ward patients as facilities like X-ray, pathological tests and blood banks would not be there."

Demanding full execution of the G + 3 project, the Congress leader said piece-meal measures are unlikely to bring much relief to the people. Calling the medical college hospital a misnomer, Moosa said facilities like neurosurgery and cardiac care were not available at the hospital.