600-bed facility coming up at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalay in Delhi

New Delhi: The dedicated Government Children's hospital, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalay (CNBC) is soon going to expand with the construction of a new block with 600 bedded facility.

Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya has been developed as a state-of-the-art super speciality pediatric hospital with a bed strength of 221 to provide comprehensive medical care for all pediatric-related medical and surgical illnesses under one roof. It is located at Geeta Colony, Delhi in an area of 1.6 hectares.

The new block was earlier allocated as a COVID-19 hospital but there was no admission of infected patients which has led to the conclusion of expanding the hospital. It is expected to be operational by the year-end.

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The hospital departments include anaesthesia, biochemistry, clinical microbiology and infectious disease, clinical psychology, dietetics, occupational therapy, pathology, dental, dermatology, ENT, pediatric medicine, orthopaedics, pediatric surgery, physiotherapy, radiology, gastroenterology, neurotology, nephrology with pediatric dialysis and neurology. It has a footfall of around sees 1,600-1,700 children daily in the OPD and 200-300 in an emergency.

Dr Urmila Jhamb, the director, of CNBC, told TOI "We will increase the facilities over time. The expansion of departments and beds are in the pipeline. The initial focus is on a huge pediatric ICU and cardiothoracic surgery, which are the need of the hour. Most children with congenital issues find it difficult to get admission in other government hospitals."

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"Trauma care services and neurosurgery have also been planned. The new building with 600 beds will allow for huge expansion. Out of these, 50-60 beds will be reserved for ICU and another 50-60 for NICU. We are also upgrading radiology services and ventilators. We have procured ECO and digital X-ray machines and are working towards purchasing a CT-MRI machine. Our current bed strength is 250. We are increasing the academic seats from four pediatric MD seats to 10, apart from two MCH surgery seats," said Jhamb.

"Our OPDs mostly see cases of diarrhoea, upper respiratory problems, skin issues and fever. Admissions are usually done for heart-related problems and congenital abnormalities. We have pediatric ophthalmology, a dedicated ENT, orthopaedics and a reasonably large department of pediatric surgeries. Neonatal surgeries are not carried out elsewhere, so we see many patients at our facility," Jhamb said.