Government Medical College and hospital approves emergency ward expansion plan

CHANDIGARH: To ease off the patient rush at Government Medical College and hospital 32, GMCH, UT administration has approved expansion of emergency.
The new building shall be interconnected to existing emergency which houses only 35 beds for over 150 patients in the emergency. The area earmarked for the emergency is the parking adjacent to the block A of the emergency. The new expansion area shall be four-storey with two storeys at the basement and the other two storeys shall have a capacity for 100 beds.
"We have a huge patient inflow at the emergency and only few hands to manage them. With this additional space and manpower, there is a scope to manage the rush," said Dr Atul Sachdev, director principal, GMCH. He said, "The plan of the building has been approved and we have also sent a request to MCI to enhance number of MD seats in medicine from three to nine. This is to get more senior residents to help in easing off rush during emergency."
Major footfall of patients is in the emergency medicine, which has bed strength of 20. "The number of patients varies from season to season. During dengue, we had over 150 patients, but otherwise we see about 70 patients in the emergency," said a faculty member at GMCH. In the absence of beds, patients are seen on trolleys and stretchers lying around corridors. GMCH caters to patients from across adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana. "The emergency is 200% occupied at any time. With the new extension building, there will be beds for the patients who can be well-attended. The building will be connected with the main emergency block," said Dr Atul.