In a boost to public health system, the State Cabinet has approved a proposal to construct a new building for the District Government Hospital in Udupi with 126 additional beds. It has also sanctioned 66 additional medical and para-medical staff.
Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat tweeted on Friday that it was a long pending demand of the people of Udupi. He congratulated the Chief Minister and the former and present Minister for Health and Family Welfare for giving approval to the new project in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The approval has been given 23 years after Udupi was carved out of Dakshina Kannada as a district, Mr. Bhat said.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Udupi B. Sadashiva Prabhu told The Hindu that with this, the total beds in the hospital will go up to 250 from 124. The staff strength will be go up to 195 from 129.
District Surgeon and Medical Superintendent of the hospital Madhusudhan Nayak said that the new proposal, including the cost of building construction, salary of additional staff and some equipment, has been estimated at about ₹ 119 crore. Dr. Nayak said that existing building was constructed in 1961. Later, as the need arose, small extensions were constructed from time to time to add to the structure. Consequently, there are leakages in the roof of the building and maintenance problems as some buildings have concrete roof and others tile roof.
The new building will have an operation theatre complex, laboratory facilities and in-patient wards. When the new building is ready, all facilities will come under a single roof.
However, the present out-patient block, emergency block, geriatric wing (12 beds), burns ward (10 beds), Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Plus Centre, which were built a few years ago, would remain untouched, Dr. Nayak said.
The old hospital building would be demolished in phases as the new building comes up without hampering medical services.
Udupi district was carved out of Dakshina Kannada in 1997 by combining Udupi and erstwhile Kundapur and Karkala taluks. Though it is called the District Government Hospital, the hospital for all purposes, including infrastructure facilities, remained a taluk hospital.
