A family delivery suite. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

Fathers-to-be will be able to watch their children being born at a new private hospital that will open its doors in the city on Monday.

AMRI Women and Children Hospital at Mukundapur, off the EM Bypass, has three “family delivery suites”, in which husbands and family members can stay at the bedside of a mother-to-be during normal delivery.

“These suites have been specially designed so that family members of an expectant mother can be with her during childbirth. This is comforting for both the family members and the mother,” said Aditya Agarwal, the director of the Emami group and the hospital, which is set to become partially operational on Monday.

“Many husbands now request for permission to stay beside their wives through normal delivery. Medically, it is acceptable for husbands and parents to stay at the bedside of an expectant mother,” said Rohit Ghutghutia, a fertility expert at the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre.

According to the plan, the 300-bed hospital will be built in two phases at a cost of Rs 150 crore. In the first phase, a six-storey building, housing 200 beds, is expected to come up.

“The outpatients department will start functioning initially. Admission of patients will start by the end of this month. The second phase is scheduled to be completed in a year,” said Agarwal.

The hospital has “imported neonatal intensive care unit beds from the UK”. Each bed has a life support system, including a ventilator, warmer and nebuliser.

The hospital will have super-speciality departments for both women and children, said an official. There are plans to introduce electronic foetal monitoring for early detection of abnormalities.

The departments of the hospital will include cardiology, nephrology, neurology, ENT, paediatric surgery and child psychiatry.