Intensive Respiratory Care Unit proposed in 2013 still awaits final approval as the building construction department of the BMC that submitted its report does not mention whether the 75-year-old building will be able to bear the weight of additional construction
Mumbai : A proposed Intensive Respiratory Care Unit (IRCU) at the Sewree TB hospital has been mired in controversy for the past two years due to lack of communication between two civic departments. The BMC’s building planning department, which is responsible for doing structural audit of the hospital, submitted its report to the civic body recently without any mention of whether the 75 year-old building will be able to bear the weight of additional construction. Besides, a staff crunch is hampering the IRCU further.
The civic health department had proposed the concerned IRCU on the third floor of the TB hospital in Sewree in early 2013, which would house 11 TB patients in separate cabins to contain infection. Additional staff and air handling units were proposed for the same. But after the Dockyard Road building collapse in September 2013, the civic body mandated a structural audit for most buildings in the city. The Sewree TB hospital being 75 years-old, a structural audit was done. However, sources allege that the audit report was submitted to the civic body at least a couple of months ago, without so much as a mention of the new construction. And so, two years on, the city still remains without an RICU in a public hospital.
“The engineers should have co-ordinated with the hospital administration and the architects. We had given them the layout also. I agree we don’t have the manpower right now but at least the civil works should be completed first,” said Dr Rajendra Nanavare, medical superintendent, Sewree TB hospital.
The issue was raised in front of the standing committee on Wednesday by corporator Anuradha Pednekar to which additional commissioner SVR Srinivas said that the RICU requires super-specialists, which are lacking right now.
