Rourkela, May 9: Almost two years after chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for construction of the six-storey Mother Child Hospital building on July 9, 2013, the building is nowhere near completion.
The new building aimed to augment the health care facility at Rourkela Government Hospital.
"No one realises the problem of the patients and their attendants," said an employee of the government hospital, one of the busiest in the region. More than 700 people visit the outpatient department of this 128-bed hospital every day.
When The Telegraph visited the spot, it found only four floors of the proposed six-storey building constructed.
Executive engineer of the public works department Deepak Tripathy admitted the delay and said it was on account of a change in the design of the building. However, he said he was hopeful of work being completed by September. Sources said irregular availability of funds had also been causing problems.
One visit to the hospital confirmed the plight of the patients and their attendants.
The condition of the attendants of the paediatrics department, especially in the Special Neo-natal Care Unit (SNCU), where the mother and child must stay as close as possible, was bad. Nodal officer of the unit Prasant Patra said: "We are eagerly waiting for the completion of the Mother Child Hospital (MCH) It will make things easy for us."
The MCH, which has a sanctioned strength of 100 beds, would house gynaecology, paediatric and maternity wards along with the SNCU and will have a spacious waiting room for the attendants.
Currently, there are two rooms on the ground floor, which serve as waiting room and also doubles up as storeroom.
The veranda of the doctor's chamber and the little space under the staircase are places where the parents stay and wait for their children to get well. Toilet and bathroom facilities are inadequate.
Also, the breast-feeding room at the SNCU is nothing but an open space, which offers no privacy to the young mothers. "It is a little difficult," said the mother of a newborn.
