Chandigarh:The upcoming launch of PGI’s Rs 485-crore Advanced Mother and Child Centre will provide 435 new inpatient beds, but a phased rollout means patients must navigate multiple buildings across the campus for complete care. Because Phase 1 only introduces inpatient admissions and operation theaters, expectant mothers and gynecological patients will have to commute between the new facility, the New OPD block, and the Nehru Hospital to access outpatient consultations and specific surgical services. The upcoming inauguration of the Centre is expected to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on July 17 during his visit to the city.Hospital faculty warn that this fragmented setup, caused by a five-year project delay, will create immediate logistical hurdles for patients until Phase 2 consolidated services under one roof.Instead of streamlining care, the partial opening divides maternal and gynecological services across three separate locations on the PGI campus. Pregnant women requiring admission or utilizing the new modular operation theaters (OTs) will go to the new Advanced Mother and Child Centre.All OPD consultations will remain at the New OPD block, while older women or those with general gynecological issues requiring surgery will still be operated on at the Nehru Hospital OT.This structural split has raised immediate alarms among the hospital’s own medical staff regarding patient logistics.”If a pregnant woman with fibroids comes to PGI, it is completely unclear which buildings she will be shuttling between,” said a senior faculty member. Doctors point out that expectant mothers, often navigating high-risk pregnancies, will face significant hurdles traveling between distinct campus buildings for routine check-ups, admissions, and surgical procedures.While Phase 1 (costing Rs 485 crore and housing 435 beds alongside modular OTs) is ready for inpatient services, Phase 2—which will finally bring OPD services under the same roof—has not yet begun.Deputy director of administration, Pankaj Rai, confirmed the timeline, stating, “The OPDs will start in Phase 2, and it will take time. We are currently in the process of starting the centre with inpatient services.”The immediate need to open the inpatient wing comes as PGI’s maternal and neonatal infrastructure faces a breaking point. The hospital has not expanded these services in nearly 20 years.During the last two decades, the labor room has been stuck at just 14 beds, and the Gynecological Emergency has stayed limited to 7 beds. This stagnation has routinely led to chaos, forcing pregnant women to endure double or even triple occupancy per bed. Similarly, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit beds have remained frozen at 40, with virtually no baseline increases to staff and human resources over the last twenty years.
