Gandhinagar: In a bid to aid relatives of patients who are admitted to govt hospitals, the state govt decided to construct residential facilities for kin accompanying patients at all hospitals run by the govt, GMERS, and under the PPP model with private entities, reports Kapil Dave.
The first such facility will come up at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital campus, which has more than 2,000 beds. The govt will provide land while a major corporate will construct the building as part of its CSR.
Sources said the Gujarat govt already convened a couple of meetings to implement the project of setting up residential amenities for relatives of patients admitted to hospitals. The idea was conceived and is being monitored.
“The govt will provide the land for these residential facilities while corporates will be roped in to construct these facilities under their CSR projects. In case corporates are not identified to construct these projects, the govt will construct them,” highly placed sources in the govt said. According to officials, “Overall, about 50 hospitals of the state will have attached residential facilities for family members and relatives of patients who are admitted,” sources said.
Chief Secretary Pankaj Joshi recently held a meeting with officials of all districts and those of the revenue and health department to apprise them of the project. “Collectors have been asked to identify land, preferably within the campus of hospitals, for the residential facilities. Collectors have been asked to send demand estimations for these projects,” said an official.
According to senior officials in the administration, corporates who construct these facilities will identify voluntary organisations to operate these projects. “Staying facilities for relatives of patients will either be free or a nominal amount will be charged. The number of rooms at these facilities will be equal to the number of beds that are available in the hospital concerned,” said sources.
“Thousands of relatives of patients visit govt hospitals on a daily basis, with a majority of them being from low-income groups. They either spend nights in the compound or lobbies of hospitals, as there are no staying facilities,” said an official, explaining the rationale behind the endeavour.