The Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the Principal Secretaries, Health and PWD, to visit Kamla Nehru Hospital to see the feasibility to demolish the 150-year-old building in a phased manner and construct a new hospital building to meet the requirement of patients.
While passing this order, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma directed the state to file an affidavit in this regard and added the Principal Secretaries of the Health and the PWD as respondents to this petition.
The court had asked for the solution of overcrowding in the hospital. It was told that the possible solution was to construct a new building in place of the old structure. The old structure was constructed in blocks and therefore, the new building can come up in a phased manner.
This order was passed on a petition filed on the basis of a letter to the Chief Justice. The petitioner has mentioned that the situation in Kamla Nehru Hospital, the only state-level women hospital, is worse as two to three patients are kept on a single bed. Even two newborns along with their mothers are kept on a single bed.
High court listed the matter for further hearing on March 5, 2013.
