A drawing for the country’s first Multi-Disciplinary Super-specialty Hospital is complete and has been sent to the Indian Government for approval. The health minister said this during the Meet the Press session yesterday. The Multi-Disciplinary hospital which is one of the pledges of the government will provide a wide range of specialized healthcare services most of which are currently not available in the country.
The health minister Dechen Wangmo said the super-speciality hospital will be built in the National Referral Hospital premises with funds from the Indian government. The minister added the construction of the hospital will begin once the Indian government approves the proposal.
The 500 bedded hospital will provide advanced and complex services such as kidney transplants, heart surgery, comprehensive cancer treatment, nuclear medicine, and a reproductive centre. Today, the majority of these cases are referred abroad.
“This is the project where we are not only looking at the infrastructure, but we are looking at infrastructure, services, equipment and human resource at the same time. There has been extensive planning that has gone in because we just don’t want the infrastructure to come in and the services to come later. The moment the infrastructure is out, we want to have human resources, equipment and services starting as we inaugurate the hospital,” said the health minister.
At the moment, it is not certain when the construction works will begin but it is expected to take around three to four years to complete.
It is one of the largest healthcare projects in the country, which will cost about Nu 5 bn. If it comes through, the hospital will reduce almost 80 per cent of referral cases and save more than Nu 300 M every year.
Pema Seldon Tshering
