200 more private rooms in JJ Hospitals

State-run Sir JJ Group of Hospitals' administration has decided to build 200 private rooms in their new super specialty building project, which will cost Rs650 crore. It has been a long-pending demand from patients that the administration increases the number of private isolated rooms for admission.

Currently, the hospital administration has only 12 rooms and since they are always occupied, there is a long waiting list to get admitted to these.

Sir JJ Group of Hospitals is one of the oldest and largest hospitals in Southeast Asia. This 1,352-bed hospital was established by Sir Jameshdji Jeejeebhoy 150 years ago. Before starting work on the new buildings, they have to first demolish two buildings. For this, tenders had been floated and work was expected to start from December.

"A super specialty department building is our ambitious project. As per plan, we will construct two 8-storeyed buildings in the hospital campus. In one of the buildings, we will build 200 private rooms. The rent for each room will be Rs500 per day and as compared to other private hospitals, this is much cheaper," said Dr TP Lahane, Dean, Sir JJ Group of Hospitals.

He added, "The construction is expected to complete in 30 months."

With 16 operation theatres and 38 departments, 2,500 OPD patients are attended to daily. The hospital also sees 1,100 admissions and 200 surgeries a day. Over the past few years, the hospital has been facing an acute shortage of space. To battle this problem, the administration has recently asked the govt for permission to use its old prisoner ward, which is hardly used presently.