Govt. asserts Sports Injury Centre would be ready by August 31

The Government today denied a television news report which suggested that equipment worth crores of rupees had been purchased for a Sports Injury Centre in Delhi which had not been built and asserted that the facility would be ready by August 31.

The Centre was planned as part of the preparations for the XIX Commonwealth Games that Delhi is slated to host from October 3-14.

"This news report is baseless. The factual position is that the Sports Injury Centre at Safdarjung Hospital is at advanced stage of construction and is expected to be completed by August 31, 2010," a statement from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

It said the total allocatin for the centre was Rs 70.72 crore, which was being met from the normal Plan allocation of the Ministry.

The statement said the budget allocation included cost of a seven-storeyed building with two basements, sophisticated and modern equipment, office and hospital furniture, salaries for the staff, project management fee and maintenance for the first two years.

The statement said the public sector Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (India) Limited had been nominated as the implementing agency for the project. Bhayana Builders had been awarded the contract for construction of the building with an estimate cost of Rs 32.50 crore.

According to the statement, the centre will have an in-patient capacity of 35 beds in two wards which contain four-bedded/three-bedded/two-bedded and single rooms. The centre will have three modular operation theatres with pre-operative/post-operative facilities and a two-bedded intensive care unit (ICU) in post-operative room.

It said certain high-end equipment like MRI CT Scan, bone densitometry, digital X-ray and Colour Doppler and laboratory services had been outsourced on revenue-sharing basis under the public-private partnership mode. Consequently, there would be less upfront expenditure by the Government on equipment.

The statement said equipment worth approximately Rs 17 crore had been listed to be procured for the centre, out of which equipment worth Rs 6 crore had already been procured and the remaining were in advanced stages of procurement. After installation and testing of these equipment, it is planned that these will be functional by September 15, it said.

When fully functional, it will be the largest medical outfit in South-East Asia catering to the specific needs of sportspeople.

The statement said that the establishment of a modern Sports Injury Centre was a long-felt need of the country that had become imminent in view of the Commonwealth Games.

The centre will take care of about 2500 cases petaining to arthroscopic or specialised procedures every year.

"It is reiterated once again that whatever equipment that has been purchased has been done after proper planning and for ensuring that the centre becomes operational in September 2010," the release added.

NNN