NEW DELHI: The incident where a woman had to deliver her child outside the emergency department of the Safdarjung Hospital raised several questions on the management of the hospital administration.
Reasons for as to why the building of the new gynaecology department has still not worked towards its reconstruction as planned by the health ministry in 2013 were put forward.
Under the then Health Minister Ghulam Nazi Azad, the ministry planned to build a 700-800 bedded gynaecology department in place of the existing building.
Around 100 babies are delivered daily in the hospital, which is by far the highest among all hospitals in Delhi and around 50 caesarean deliveries take place on a daily basis in the hospital.
According to sources, during Azad’s tenure, the plan was to demolish the current building and develop a new one.
“A proposal was sent to the Expenditure Finance Committee. It’s been 11 years now and the plan still lies on papers,” said an official.
Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (HSCC) officials also confirmed that a plan was made and the company was responsible for developing the building. According to the doctors, in 2015, there were talks on building a maternal and child care department in place of the old casualty room, but no action has been taken on it as well.
Currently, the gynaecology department has two labour rooms and on average 100 deliveries are conducted per day. According to doctors, Safdarjung Hospital accounts for 10% of all births in Delhi.
“Many times, women are seen standing in queues waiting for deliveries and are forced to give birth in their vehicles itself,” a doctor added.
The room meant for pregnant women to wait before going into labour has limited beds and sometimes 5-6 of them use the same bed to rest.
When this newspaper contacted Medical Superintendent of the Hospital Dr SV Arya to ask why the reconstruction of the gynaecology building has not started yet, there was no response.
The Head of the gynaecology department, Dr Anjali Dabral also did not reply.
On Tuesday, a woman gave birth to a child outside the emergency room of the Safdarjung Hospital, when denied a bed in the premises.