“The JJ Group of Hospitals, which includes Cama and Albless Hospital, St George Hospital and the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, were all constructed by the Public Health Department during the British era and handed over to the medical colleges to run. So, after many decades, this hospital will be the first in the city to be built and run entirely by the state Public Health Department,” said Dr Prakesh Doke, director of health services for Maharashtra.

The hospital is being constructed in two phases and will start operations, two months from now, as a 60-bedded general hospital whose building is already ready. The plan is to add amenities for 140 additional beds plus super specialty services and an intensive care unit (ICU). The construction of the first phase has cost the government Rs 2 crore. The Malvani hospital will not be attached to any medical college.

“Sixty staff-members, including doctors and paramedics, are to be appointed by the government, proposals of which have been forwarded,” said Dr K G Deshmane, deputy director (Thane) of health services.

After the state government had passed a resolution in 2002 for a 200-bedded hospital in Mumbai, the Public Health Department had scouted for suitable plots of land in bith, the eastern and western suburbs. In August last year, they had zeroed in on a Ghatkopar plot for a super-specialty hospital. However, that plan was later modified with the department opting instead to expand this newly-built 60-bedded hospital in Malvani. “The hospital will have super-specialty services in its second phase. Of the next 140 beds, 40 will be reserved for a maternity ward, 20 for a cardio-thoracic unit, 20 for trauma patients, 20 for plastic surgery patients, 20 for a pediatrics unit and the remaining 20 for urology and dialysis,” said Dr Deshmane. “It will be a state-of-the-art hospital with all the equipment required for various specialties. There are no private stakeholders,” added Dr Deshmane.