Private contractors hold Lady Hardinge Hospital's Rs 418-crore revamp plan hostage
The project has not only been inordinately delayed but also resulted in hundreds of crores of taxpayers' money going down the drain while the work cost has already escalated by over 20 per cent.
At a time when the national Capital grapples with acute shortage of beds in hospitals, an ambitious Rs 418-crore redevelopment plan of the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital has landed up in sick bay.
Six new blocks, including a 350-bed In Patient Department (IPD) and an eightstoreyed Out Patient Department (OPD), similar to the one at the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), have been left unfinished by the contractor - Unity Infraproject Limited who has completed only 30 per cent of the project so far. The work for redeveloping the hospital began in October 2011 and it was scheduled to be completed by August 2013.
But now, the project has not only been inordinately delayed but also resulted in hundreds of crores of taxpayers' money going down the drain. Sources said the work cost has already escalated by over 20 per cent. Worse is the failure of government agencies to track the contractor and take it to task.
Well-placed sources said that while dozens of sub-contractors have been duped of crores of rupees by the contractor before it abandoned work in August 2013, it has come to light that an order for medical equipment worth nearly Rs 200 crore has also been placed by government-owned HSCC, which is a consultant.
According to sub-contractors, who are still waiting for payment of their dues, no work has been taken up ever since Unity Infra left the project midway in 2013.
Pending dues
"Huge quantity of construction material, including steel and cement, are lying unused. Electrical gadgets are gathering dust as expensive medical equipment, worth crores of rupees, has been ordered. Though electricity and water supply connections have been disconnected, the security agencies have no option but to keep guard of everything without being paid," said Sajjan Jain, a sub-contractor.
Another sub-contractor Rajeev Yadav is seeking payment of Rs 22 lakh for having supplied 70 labourers to Unity Infra. The aggrieved sub-contractors have also lodged a complaint with the Mandir Marg police station against the contractor and also urged the Union health minister to address their grievance.
HSCC, meanwhile, has also shut down its site office nearly a year after work was abandoned. While no HSCC official was present at the camp office, others too could not be reached despite repeated attempts.
Paucity of beds
At present, there is a shortage of beds in Delhi with Sucheta Kriplani Hospital and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital having 877 and 350 beds respectively. Adding another 350 beds would have helped matters.
Hardinge hospital doctors said the proposed OPD was being constructed on the lines of AIIMS with special focus on pediatrics. The central government-run Kalawati Hospital was established in 1956 as a centre of excellence in pediatric care and research with a neo-natal wing. It receives more than 1.5 lakh patients in its OPD every year.
According to health department officials, Delhi has a hospital bed for every 393 of its citizens while norms say that there should be one for every 200 patients.
World Health Organization standards specify that the total number of beds in the National Capital should be one lakh but as of now the tally in all government and private hospitals is just about 45,000.
Officials said patient load in Delhi increases as over 30 per cent of medical facilities in government-run hospitals are availed by people coming from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states.
According to a source, HSCC had issued a notice to Unity Infra while asking it to resume work but it has gone in vain.
The redevelopment plan of the Lady Hardinge Medical College and its associated hospitals is part of an initiative launched by the Union health ministry to augment healthcare services.
This would have also increased the student intake at the MBBS and PG levels by over 60 per cent. According to tender conditions, there is a provision of imposing penalty of 1 per cent of the total project cost, which comes to Rs4.18 crore, on the construction agency for not finishing the construction work but no action has been initiated so far.