PM Narendra Modi to unveil Amrita Hospital, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital on August 24

Chandigarh: Two state-of-the-art health facilities, Amrita Hospital in Haryana's Faridabad and Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at New Chandigarh (Mullanpur), Mohali will be inaugurated by Prime Minister on Wednesday. The PM is scheduled to visit Haryana to inaugurate Amrita Hospital in Faridabad at 11 am followed by a visit to Punjab to inaugurate the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at New Chandigarh at around 2.15 pm. 

For the inauguration of Amrita hospital, many well-known individuals would be present including Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who said that the state government is taking various steps to ensure the availability of an adequate number of doctors in the state.

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The Amrita hospital claims to be India's largest private hospital with 2,400 beds and with the latest healthcare facilities. The hospital is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 6000 crore. The hospital which is built on a 130-acre campus area claims to have cutting-edge technology, including a centralised fully automated laboratory, patient-centric wards and OPDs. 

The Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre were built at nearly Rs 660 crore by the Tata Memorial Centre which is an aided institute under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. A release issued by the Press Information Bureau, as reported in the Indian Express states, "The cancer hospital is a tertiary care hospital of 300-bed capacity and is equipped with modern facilities to treat all types of cancers using every available treatment modalities like surgery, radiotherapy and medical oncology – chemotherapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant. The hospital will function like a hub of cancer care and treatment in the region with the 100-bed hospital in Sangrur functioning like its spoke."

A PMO statement read, "In an endeavour to provide world-class cancer care to the residents of Punjab and neighbouring states and UTs, Prime Minister will dedicate 'Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre' to the Nation at Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar District (Mohali). The Hospital has been built at a cost of over Rs. 660 Crore by Tata Memorial Centre, an aided institute under Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India." 

Stating that Amrita Hospital, founded by Mata Amritanandamayi 'Amma' Math in Sector 88 of Faridabad would increase the health facilities which are available to the people, the CM said, "People from neighbouring states, including Delhi NCR will also benefit." The CM added, "The process of opening medical colleges in each district is in progress. At present, there are 13 medical colleges in the state and eight medical colleges are under process and there are about 13,000 doctors. The government aims to increase their number to 28,000, which means that 2,650 doctors will be ready every year."

Talking about the government's Ayushman Bharat scheme, the CM said that various families from financially marginalised communities have registered with it. Under the scheme, nearly 22 lakh families in the state would be provided free medical facilities up to Rs 5 lakh, reports the Times of India. 

Khattar said, "After completion, Amrita Hospital will have 2,600 beds, which includes 534 critical care beds. The hospital will have 64 modular operation theatres. An entire floor in the hospital will be devoted to the care of mothers and children. As many as 2,500 paramedical staff and 800 doctors will be working at the hospital. The total built-up area of the hospital will be 1 crore sq ft with an estimated expenditure of Rs 6,000 crore."

Initially, 500 beds would be made available at the Amrita hospital, following which a phase-wise opening is scheduled to take place within the next five years. Consisting of 81 specialities, it would become the largest private hospital in Delhi-NCR and the country once it starts operationalizing fully. The hospital would have a medical college, a dedicated research block and eight centres of excellence -- gastro-sciences, renal sciences, bone diseases and trauma, transplants, and mother and child care.

Dr Sanjeev K Singh, Resident Medical Director of the hospital said that their initial plan which was envisioned in 2012 was to set up the hospital in Delhi, however, the location was eventually shifted to Faridabad. The work of the hospital stopped around 2016 due to various factors like the acquisition of farmlands, and was heavily affected during the lockdowns induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the Times Now. 

Dr Singh said, "However, COVID also taught us lessons, and some of the designs were redrawn and certain elements were incorporated to make the hospital environment safer for people as COVID infection is now being assumed to spread largely through droplets or air. So, we have built something called a negative pressure room - a kind of an isolation room, in which suspected cases can be kept away from others. This is different from a regular isolation room."

The doctor explained that in such rooms, the air pressure inside the room is lower than the air pressure outside it and non-contaminated filtered air can flow into the negative pressure room, while contaminated air is sucked out of the room with exhaust systems, which are built with filters that clean the air before it is pumped out and away from a healthcare facility. He added, "Besides, our system attempts to make the process as contactless as possible. So, every doctor will have a dedicated digital tablet, meaning it can't be shared with others, which will have all the details and history of patients. This step is also in line with the vision of sustainability in the project to make it as paperless as possible."

A hospital spokesperson said that the hospital was constructed with patient-centric support and would consist of 54 critical care units, smart ICUs with 534 critical care beds that are digitally monitored round-the-clock, and 64 fully and 64 fully networked modular operation theatres. Singh said, "In terms of cutting-edge technology being introduced as also to make the system more patient-centric, from each room in critical care or other wards, blood or other samples can be taken within the room only, and then the vial can be sent to the centralised lab using pneumatic tubes, with no human interference. That way, the scope of contact also gets reduced."

The cancer hospital is said to be a tertiary care hospital with a capacity of 300 beds and has all types of modern facilities which would help in treating various forms of cancer using every available treatment modality like surgery, radiotherapy and medical oncology - chemotherapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant, reports the Live Mint. The hospital is expected to become a 'hub' of cancer care and treatment in the region. 

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