Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: The obstetrics and gynaecology and the paediatric wards of Capital Hospital, which are gasping for new lease of life, will shortly shift to a six-storey building.

At present, the obstetric and gynaecology ward of the hospital has only 50 beds for inpatients, as a result of which, many have to lie on the floor in unhygienic conditions.

The paediatric ward, which was shifted last year to a new building on the hospital campus, has only 50 beds for inpatients besides a newborn care unit for 10 children.

The pressure on the ward had increased following the shifting of the inpatient department of Shishu Bhavan to Capital Hospital a few years back.

"The obstetric and gynaecology is the most crowded ward of the hospital. Patients from the city and also the neighbouring districts of Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri come here. There was an urgent need to improve the facilities and therefore, we decided to shift the wards to the new building on the campus," said hospital superintendent Binod Mishra.

The new building, which will be named "Mother and Childcare Hospital", will have specialist outpatient services such as an epilepsy clinic, paediatric orthopaedic and ophthalmology services. It will also have a slew of inpatients services. It will also have newborn care units.

The works department had been entrusted with the job of construction.

"The construction is almost over. Painting of the interior and fitting of electrical equipment remains to be done. The building will shortly be handed over to the administration," said chief engineer, building, S.R. Sethi.

Once the construction is complete, the hospital administration will begin shifting all the facilities from the present obstetric & gynaecology and paediatric wards to the new unit. Each will have 100 beds, which is almost double the present strength of in-patient wards.

"The works department will hand over the building to us after which we will decide on the actual services and facilities to be provided to the people. We also need to recruit more staff members," said Mishra.

Though people welcome the introduction of the dedicated mother and childcare unit at the hospital, many are concerned if the authorities will be bale to maintain it.

"It is a good initiative . However, the question is whether the authorities will be able to maintain the services properly," said Nirakar Sahoo, the relative of a patient undergoing treatment at the hospital.