COIMBATORE: The delay in identifying suitable relocation areas for all the departments functioning in the deteriorating outpatient (OP) block of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has raised serious concerns among doctors and staff members, who warn that the continued use of the decades-old building — deemed "structurally unstable" by the Public Works Department (PWD) — poses serious risks to both patients and healthcare workers.
Due to a lack of adequate space on the hospital premises, many of the OP departments are still functioning out of the building, which witnesses a footfall of hundreds of patients every day. According to sources, the hospital administration has constituted a committee, headed by the dean, to oversee the relocation process.
The heads of departments (HODs) lean towards agreeing to the committee's relocation plan. Meanwhile, an "official hospital order" has been prepared, specifying the proposed locations for each department. Prior to relocation, the committee has been assessing the feasibility of the proposed locations in order to ensure adequate space for patient waiting areas, consultation and treatment rooms, pharmacies, doctors' cabins, and records sections.
As several of the departments are being relocated to buildings that already house other departments, partitioning and rearranging available space has become necessary, added sources.
Departments including dermatology, the ART Centre, and diabetology have already been shifted to safer locations, while work is under way to shift the remaining departments, including psychiatry, surgery, medicine, ENT, nephrology, neurology, urology, ICDC, and siddha.
Several doctors, who said the condition of the OP building has been deteriorating further, have urged the hospital administration to expedite the relocation process. A senior doctor said, "The stability of the building is worsening. The remaining departments should be shifted to safer places as soon as possible."
A house surgeon said, "The roof of the ground floor has exposed concrete steel bars, resembling a skeleton. It feels like a nightmare every time we enter the building. Fortunately, the delayed monsoon has prevented further deterioration."
The delay has also created confusion among the patients, worsened by the hospital administration's plans to install wayfinding signage only after the relocation process is complete. Patients and attendants have urged the administration to immediately install temporary signboards on the ground floor.
As the hospital administration is working towards vacating and abandoning the structurally weak building, the PWD has completed the architectural drawing for the proposed replacement building. The new facility is planned as a G+8 structure, and officials said the proposal will be forwarded to the state government soon for approval.
