Pune: The 11-storey hospital building at BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, vital during the Covid-19 pandemic, has been functioning for nearly five years without formal approval for its 504 additional beds. Officials said they submitted a proposal in 2022 to the state Medical Education and Drugs Department (MEDD) seeking approval for the beds and required staff, but it was still pending.“We are currently functioning with only about 66% of the required staff strength at the hospital and medical college. The approved staffing is based on the beds available in the older hospital buildings. We had submitted a proposal to the MEDD seeking approval for 504 additional beds in the new building because the burden on the existing workforce has increased considerably. We are still awaiting a decision,” Dr Eknath Pawar, dean of BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital (BJMC & SGH), said.According to Dr Pawar, the hospital has official approval for 1,296 beds in its older facilities, supported by a sanctioned strength of 2,359 staff members at the hospital and 732 at the medical college. The 504 beds in the new tower, however, remain outside the sanctioned capacity.Sassoon hospital has 2,350 approved posts across Class 1-4, with 1,970 filled and 380 vacant.The officials said the proposal required clearance from both MEDD and state finance department, as approval would pave the way for recruitment of doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff, besides allocation of funds for medicines, equipment and consumables.Constructed after years of delay, the building was originally conceived in 2009 in the aftermath of the swine flu outbreak. The project, however, remained stalled for more than a decade before being fast-tracked during the Covid-19 pandemic. The facility was opened in 2020 to accommodate critically ill patients when Pune’s healthcare infrastructure was under unprecedented strain.Today, the tower houses several major departments, including gynaecology, orthopaedics, pulmonology, paediatrics and radiology, and caters to a large patient load. “The institution has repeatedly pursued the matter with authorities. We have held several meetings with the medical education minister and sent multiple reminders to the department, but approval is yet to come,” Dr Pawar reiterated.The officials warned that the prolonged delay was adding pressure to an already overstretched workforce and could ultimately affect patient care.The impact is also visible to patients and their families. Chitra Gaikwad, whose relative is undergoing treatment in the pulmonology ward, said attendants often ended up performing tasks typically handled by hospital staff. “Many times, family members have to help move patients from one ward to another for tests and scans, and even assist them for basic needs like using the bathroom. The doctors are experienced and dedicated, but the patient load is extremely high and the staff appear overburdened,” she said.Despite the building being fully operational and handling hundreds of patients daily, the lack of formal approval means the additional beds remain unrecognised on paper, delaying both recruitment and funding support.Minister of medical education Hasan Mushrif told TOI that the proposal to create posts for SGH’s 11-storey, 504-bed facility had been sent to the finance and planning departments and was awaiting their response. “Once it is cleared, govt will approve the beds in the 11-storey building as well,” he said.Repeated calls, messages and emails sent to senior MEDD officials, including the department secretary, commissioner and the Director of Medical Education and Research (DMER), did not elicit a response till going to press.
