The premier institute in the city has now grown into 830-bed hospital with 86 ICUs
Nagpur: Starting with 60 beds, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur, has now grown into an 830-bed hospital with 86 ICUs. The premier hospital, established in 2018, has surpassed Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) which has 750 beds.
Battling a severe crisis for over a month, the AIIMS Nagpur on Tuesday added 120 new functional beds, after over 100 new nursing officers joined duties, to cater to the heavy patient load across departments. The new beds take the functional bed tally to 830, which would be managed by existing 120 faculty members, 71 senior residents and 462 nursing officers, including the new joinees. This takes AIIMS’s capacity beyond IGGMCH, which has 750 functional beds. GMCH has the most at 1,939 functional beds.
The bed capacity has jumped to 620 in wards spread across five floors, 88 ICU-MICU beds, and 60 emergency beds, for a total of 768. Another 40-bed ward and a 22-bed ICU have been started under emergency disaster protocol in view of Prime Minister Modi’s visit on December 11. The disaster ward takes the overall tally to 830 beds.
Established in 2018, the premier institute had a modest 60-bed strength with few departments and services. Following the hospital administration’s appeals and improved connectivity, AIIMS Nagpur witnessed unexpected patient flow from mid-2022. The sudden rush forced AIIMS to refer overflow patients to GMCH. In November, on several occasions, patients were refused admission because of unavailability of beds. The helpless administration could do little as beds in emergency wards too remained occupied for more than two days.
The 120 new beds include a 40-bed ward, a 58-bed ward for physical medicine and rehabilitation and dermatology patients. The emergency beds have been increased by 22.
Dr Vibha Dutta, Director, AIIMS Nagpur, said, “At full capacity, we shall have 960 beds. We have opened two new wards today.” Dr Manish Shrigiriwar, medical superintendent at AIIMS Nagpur, said they plan to start one more ward of 52 beds soon. “We planned to start these two new wards from Monday. But each new ward needs certain specifications like working beds, ventilator ports, crash carts etc. These measures consume a lot of time to take shape,” he said.
The medical superintendent said new beds have offered respite to many patients who are now easily getting admission.
