Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, June 12: The state government has decided to upgrade Capital Hospital into a post-graduate institute (PGI) for medical students.

The move is also aimed at making the premier medical facility a referral hospital for the region.

Director of the hospital S.C. Mallick said the decision was taken yesterday at a meeting between chief secretary Bijay Patnaik and health officials.

Every year, the hospital caters to 70,000 indoor and eight lakh outdoor patients. Equipped with 600 beds, the hospital is a major medical centre for patients from the city and neighbouring districts such as Cuttack, Nayagarh and Puri.

“On an average, we admit 177 indoor patients a day. But a study undertaken by the health and family welfare department has found that by 2020 the daily intake of indoor patients will be around 240. Therefore, to tackle the pressure of indoor patients, we have to increase the number of beds to 800,’’ Mallick said.

The study also indicated that by 2020, the hospital would be catering to the health care needs of nearly one lakh indoor and 14 lakh outdoor patients annually. The hospital had started its journey with 60 beds in 1954.

Though no deadline has been set for the project, Mallick said the government had already instructed the relevant authorities to prepare a detailed design and plan for the construction of the PGI on the hospital campus.

However, the health and family welfare department has already initiated the process to meet additional manpower requirement for the expansion programme. It has been decided to create posts to recruit 38 specialist doctors, 20 medical officers, 45 staff nurses, 10 pharmacists, 40 attendants and 40 sweepers that will entail an additional funding of Rs 16 crore.

“Work for removal of the encroachments and shifting of shops on the campus to the existing utility complex will be taken up very soon so that the planners can conduct a detailed field survey. Already the hospital has been identified as a training centre for the students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar,” he said.

Reacting to the PGI move, local resident Pranab Kumar Swain of Unit-VI said: “All referral hospitals in the city are run by private entities. To go to a tertiary health care centre, one has to travel either to Cuttack or get the patient admitted to a private hospital here. Once the Capital Hospital becomes equipped with better service delivery abilities, people belonging to the middle class and lower middle class will benefit in a big way.’’

The hospital director also said that there were eight beds in the intensive care unit (ICU), but in the near future there will be eight more. There are ICUs for paediatric, obstetrics and gynaecology departments and the casualty wing.

“Specialised departments such as endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, urology, oncology, neurology, neurosurgery, trauma care, burn unit and a modern physiotherapy unit will be developed prior to the declaration of the PGI status,’’ Mallick said.

At present, the hospital has a cardio-thoracic and a dialysis centre.

The burn injury centre is yet to get started though in the past there were steps to make it functional. To meet the demands of the patients, specialists in neurology, endocrinology and gastroenterology provide weekly outdoor service at the hospital. A neo-natal intensive care unit under the paediatric department also helps newborns with low weight to survive.