With less than 100 days to go for the Commonwealth Games 2010, the status of nodal hospitals that were supposed to be readied for medical emergencies during the Games seems far from satisfactory.
To begin with, there seems confusion about whether the sports injury centre at Safdarjung hospital, which was supposed to cater to sportspersons, will be in place before the Games. While the Delhi government’s health department maintains that the project is “off the nodal list”, the Safdarjung hospital authorities claim that there is a scope as the centre is nearing completion and was supposed to play an active role in during the Games. “We were asked to earmark 10 beds for the CWG and train doctors, which we have done already. But the hospital does not have enough money to buy required equipments. A number of reminders have been sent to the Centre for release of funds but it has not responded to a single letter,” a hospital official said.
The situation does not seem encouraging enough in the other nodal hospitals too. The construction and repair works are yet to be completed. For instance, a seven-storey building was supposed to come up at GB Pant Hospital. But even as the hospital has bought the equipment to be installed, the administration is awaiting the completion of construction work.