Safdarjang Hospital – REDEVELOPMENT PLAN

Introduction

Safdarjang Hospital is located in the plush area of south Delhi adjoining ring road & Aurobindo Marg crossing and opposite AIIMS. Being one of the largest Central Government hospitals & by virtue of its prime location in the heart of the capital, it is serving the masses & therefore receives patients from far flung areas. The hospital provides multispecialty medical care to millions of citizens not only of Delhi but also the neighboring states and neighbouring countries FREE of cost. Safadarjang Hospital has a Medical College associated with it named Vardhman Mahavir Medical College. The hospital is a prime institute for young physicians & since the early 1950s, it has been a focal point for PG & Post-Doctoral Medical Studies since 1962.

History

The hospital commenced its operations in 1942 as a Base Hospital created by US forces during the World War - II. Housed in army barracks, it was called as American Hospital. Started as Annexe to Irwin(At present L.N.J.P.) Hospital in 1947 it was named as Safdarjang Hospital in 1954 and taken over by Central Govt. Until the inception of All India Institute of Medical Science in 1956, Safdarjung Hospital was the only tertiary care hospital in South Delhi

 Initially the hospital had 204 beds, housed in barracks. But with progressive aquiring of adjascent land, it has now spread over a large area of around 47 acre & has an extensive campus infrastructure. Due to the large patient load that the hospital receives, and a felt strong need of additional beds to house many of specialities as well as other basic facilities like proper waiting spaces & public amenities, beds got progressively increased to 1531 in 1990. Since then no further addition of beds have taken place.

Infrastructure & Facilities

Presently, the hospital has come up over an area of 47 acres ( 1,90,738 sqm). The ground coverage being 29.7% (56572.6 sqm), with a floor area ratio (FAR) less than 100 (floor area 178941.86sqm.)

The existing medical facilities include indoor Beds- 1531(approved but around 1812 squeezed in to accommodate ever increasing rush), OPD rooms for consultation six days a week approximately 180, OT’s-32 (one in each room), OPD load-7000-8000 per day  with three times the accompanying attendants, 14 specialty OPDs in the evening, about and only 30 ICU beds etc. Further,on an average  about 1000 patients attend casualty emergency, 355 admitted, & 75 deliveries are carried out daily. Computerised 26 counters in new OPD block besides separate counters in Ortho., Gynae, Burns, Dental, respiratory, psychiatry, radiotherapy, rehabilitation & CGHS etc and separate OPD for Homeopathy, Ayurveda & Naturopathy facilitate comprehensive patient care.

Volume can be judged by an OPD attendence of more than 22 lakh, admissions of 130000 plus with bed occupancy of 140%, 1lakh operations, Xrays in excess of 2,80,000, or lab tests 40 lakh displaying remarkable work being done in this central governmental hospital. With more than 37 departments and advanced facilities like  Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, Heart Valves Replacement and repair Surgery, Congenital Heart Disease Repair Surgeries, Angiography and Angioplasty,Total Hip Replacement surgery, Knee Replacement Surgery,Arthroscopies and Arthroscopy assisted surgery of joints, Sports Injury Clinic, Lithotripsy for Kidney stones, Dialysis for Kidney Failure patients, Laproscopic  Cholecystectomy, Radiotherapy, Cancer Surgery, Artificial Limb Implant Facility, Antiretroviral therapy for AIDS patients, DOTS for TB patients, Aurveda, Homeopathy & Unani  treatment Centres and Advanced Diagnostics like Blood Tests by Fully automated Machines, Mammography, MRI, Digital X-Ray, OPG, Whole Body Spiral CT Scan etc  are available under one roof.

Vardhman Mahavir Medical College or VMMC for short, is the fifth medical college, Under Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University in which the first batch of MBBS students joined the college in February 2002. From 2008 onwards the post graduate courses are also affiliated to GGSIP University. It is a State of art centrally air-conditioned building with separate Library building also having excellent collection of Medical books, Journals and Internet facility. Current intake capacity has been enhanced to 154 students.

Sports Injury Centre (SIC) at Safdarjung Hospital has been inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 26.9.2010.The Centre has been established at an approved cost of Rs. 70.72 crores under the plan scheme of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare by upgrading the Sports Injury Unit functioning at the Central Institute of Orthopaedics at Safdarjung Hospital. The Centre is now functioning as an independent full-fledged department. The Centre performed more than 2000 Arthroscopic and 300 Joint replacement surgeries since its inauguration.

Shortcomings

Many departments need up gradation and capacity building for academic programme.  The haphazard development, which took place due to sustained growth both in terms of patient inflow as also the medical technology, coupled with research and medical educational activities led to erection of new building blocks & infrastructure along-side the existing temporary barracks in an organic & need based but haphazard manner which had resulted in unplanned spaces, temporary structures, besides makeshift arrangements even in the critical areas. Similarly the wards are inadequate in terms of area and inappropriate in layouts & provisions. Due to heavy patient load, the entire complex is ever overcrowded. The old buildings lack the provision of basic facilities which are essential to the users.

Further, there is a strong requirement of adding more OTs due to addition of many superspecialties like cancer surgery, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery etc. Due to this shortcoming, critically sick patients have to wait for specialized medical treatment & operations. The waiting spaces are also grossly insufficient and often patients/attendants have to wait in make-shift temporary shelters or in open. There is also a shortage of conference rooms & office spaces in the campus, recreational facilities for the faculty, students, nurses & the paramedical staff. Parking is a major issue and with increasing number of cars. Ambulances service is also a concern. Useful time is wasted away in locating available parking spaces which are grossly insufficient. There is an urgent requirement to address traffic segregation & other transport planning related measures so that the vehicular movements & pedestrian interference is regulated. The open spaces look clustered & people wait in these areas thus making them more overcrowded. In addition the lack of appropriate public utilities compounds the problem.

Urgent need is also felt to augment emergency and critical care beds. Nursing home facility is also not present in Safdarjang hospital.

Redevelopment?

Looking at the present shortfall a strong need has been felt to upgrade and redevelop the institute so that it meets the basic requirements essential for public. Accordingly the concept plan comprehensively attempts to-

Decongest- smooth movement of patients & staff by optimizing functional spaces, modern layouts & decongestion of surrounding road system.

Expand- Bed strength from 1531to 2,500 or more, double OT’s from 32 to 64 nos with reduction in huge waiting time and Handle future OPD loads of 8-10,000 per day. Add much needed ICU facility to atleast 10% of beds.

Make it Patient-centric- Improved coordination, Good Waiting Spaces & Facilities with latest IT tools. Incorporate newer specialized departments.

Follow Methodical Approach- Achieve all these in a phased time-bound manner, with least or no disturbance in the present hospital functioning.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE

Accordingly as per the space availability especially with newly acquired 5.886 acre land behind incinerator and the construction sequencing, the architectural concept has been evolved. Based on the facts, ideology and methodology outlined earlier, the redevelopment plan of Safdarjang Hospital has been split into the three distinct phases. Accordingly, a concept has been evolved to limit the redevelopment by splitting the project into phases with phase 1 being taken in current five year plan ie 2013-18. Each phase shall be backed by a Rehabilitation Scheme before demolition & the corresponding Construction scheme.

In first phase construction, super-specialty cum paid ward block, and emergency ward are proposed for execution.

 In Phase-II maternal and child hospital, while In Phase-III other blocks along with service Blocks, will be taken up for.

A Super Specialty Block distributed in two blocks is proposed on the 5.89 Acres of land behind National institute of pathology, SJH. This structure would also have a contiguous 3 level basement below the building, the lower two levels being for parking. The contiguous paid ward block is envisaged on PPP mode and would also cater to CGHS patients. A 500 beded emergency block is proposed in the existing campus at junction of Aurobindo Marg and Ring Road having 64 Triage /68 ICU beds to cater to polutrauma, and emergencies casualty services. Both buildings are stand-alone, equipped with independent diagnostic, imaging and other allied facilities.

In the proposed concept as compared to existing hospital arrangement the achievements aimed for are highlighted as below

All along in this planning due consideration has been given to the existing site approach, Topography, Climatic, Geological & Geotechnical data & parameters of the site including the fact that a part of land has been acquired by DMRC for their metro line & the station is adjacent. The basic intention is to facilitate smooth patients & hospital staff movement & achieve a state of the art facility methodically in phases ensuring minimal disturbance to the present hospital functioning during this redevelopment programme.

Following the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved on 4^th june 2013 the redevelopment plan phase I at an estimated cost of 1333 crores and nominated HSCC as project Consultant responsible for, among other things, concept, detailed design & engineering, contracting, project management and medical equipment procurement, installation and commissioning.

Site Plan

EMERGENCY BLOCK AT SAFDARJUNG HOSPITAL

Actual site photos

SSB

Emergency

SAFDARJANG HOSPITAL IS CONSIDERED AS A COMMON MAN’S HOSPITAL, THEREFORE, THE PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT OF THE HOSPITAL WILL BE A SHOWCASE FOR EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION AS ENSHRINED IN THE CONSTITUTION FOR ALL WITHOUT ANY DISCRIMINATION ( PRIVATE & PUBLIC SECTOR DIVIDE).