The much awaited decongestion of the prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER, or PGI in short) Chandigarh, which attracts between 8,000 and 11,00 patients accompanied by an equal number of attendants daily because of its high repute, may now just be a few years away.
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Two years after being allotted 50 acres of land at Sarangpur village, 2 kms from the current campus, by the Chandigarh UT Administration for an extension project, the PGI authorities, in consultation with the senior faculty of the institute, has finally come up with a conceptual plan for the extension facility.
PGI Director Prof Jagat Ram told a news conference on Thursday that after a detailed process of feedback from the faculty and heads of various departments, and deliberations held at the highest level on Wednesday, it has been decided to shift the Out-patient Departments (OPDs) to the new campus. It will also house the Trauma Centre, a Learning Resources Centre, where doctors from the entire region will be trained and provided advanced skill sets, and an independent Oncology (cancer care) speciality, which had so far been eluding the institute.
He said, the new campus, to be connected to the existing facility with the help of either a subway or skyway for uninterrupted movement, will prove to be a boon for the institute as it will act as a “filter”, so that only people referred from the new campus need come to the main campus. “Of course we need more such filters to decongest the PGI by way of strengthening the regional medical colleges and district hospitals in the states falling in the catchment area of the prestigious institute – Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and parts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc,” he added.
Besides the OPD, the new campus is also proposed to have 200-bedded day care centre where patients needing admission can be housed for the day, and for return visits later. Construction of faculty offices will also be considered in the new campus, Prof Jagat Ram said.
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PGI Deputy Director (Administration) Amitabh Avasthi, who was accompanying the Director, however clarified that the facility would not come up overnight. From conceptualisation stage to the drawing board, to various approvals, and sanction of funds by the Central Government there is always a gestation period of a few years and it could be expected in this case as well, he said, adding that the cost of creating infrastructure for OPDs alone could involve expenditure in the region of Rs 1,000 crore. Prof Jagat Ram was quick to assure that no time will be wasted to get on with the project.
The PGI Director said that the buildings vacated by the shifting of OPDs and the Trauma Centre would be suitably utilised to expand the Emergency and other services in the main campus. An Organ Transplant Centre, a Geriatric (elderly health care speciality) Centre, 6 more super speciality centres and more accommodation for faculty and staff were also part of PGI’s vision document for the future, he added.
 Chandigarh, which attracts between 8,000 and 11,00 patients accompanied by an equal number of attendants daily because of its high repute, may now just be a few years away.){kind=link}