While maintenance and upkeep of government buildings is primarily the responsibility of the Public Works Department (PWD), Health Minister Kiran Walia said due the department’s involvement in other construction projects, the Health department is now looking at alternatives to reduce its dependency on the PWD.

In a bid to have world-class health facilities in the Capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games, the government is already in the process of upgrading two government super-specialty hospitals with the help of public private partnerships (PPP). The two hospitals are Janakpuri Super-Specialty Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super-Specialty Hospital at Tahirpur.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had pulled up the PWD and asked for a formal implementation plan to be submitted on pending maintenance work in medical buildings in July last year, but the department is yet to submit it, officials said.

The government had also decided to set aside Rs 5 lakh per hospital annually and give it to the medical superintendent for minor maintenance works, an official added. There are about 30 government-run hospitals in the city at present.

“Repair work is the most basic service required to maintain a hospital. Since the PWD is already overloaded with work, there is nothing wrong in incorporating private hands to ensure that basic services required in a hospital are taken care of,” Walia said.