The authorities of Charnock Hospital in New Town have acquired Lohia Matri Sewa Sadan Hospital in north Kolkata and will build a 200-bed superspeciality hospital there.
The new hospital will be known as Charnock Lohia Hospital.
Located on a four-bigha plot close to Nimtala Ghat, Lohia Matri Sewa Sadan Hospital, set up in 1941, served as a mother-child care centre till it was closed down in 2016.
The hospital building is a Grade-I heritage structure.
“The birth certificates of several prominent personalities from the city, including (industrialist) L.N. Mittal, have the name of Lohia hospital. We have decided to build a superspeciality hospital at the same address without making any significant alterations to the grand structure,” said Prashant Sharma, managing director of Charnock Hospital.
“Our investment for the project will be close to Rs 160 crore. We hope to start full-fledged hospital operations by the middle of next year.”
Charnock Hospital has taken the property on a 60-year lease.
Senior officials at the hospital said the north Kolkata building would be restored in consultation with architects who are aware of the norms related to the preservation of Grade-I heritage structures in the city.
While the basic cleaning up of the premises will start on Friday, the restoration will start only after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation gives its formal nod.
The superspeciality hospital will have several operating theatres, including one dedicated to neurosurgery, a cath lab, 90 wards, over a dozen cabins, a 10-bed dialysis unit and a 70-bed ICU, said officials.
“There is a dearth of a proper private healthcare facility around the place where the Lohia hospital is located. Patients go to south Kolkata, BT Road or Salt Lake. We hope to address the healthcare needs of this section of the city,” Sharma said.
“It won’t be a charitable institution but will have facilities for those who are covered under the Swasthy Sathi and other similar health schemes.”
The new hospital will have almost all departments, apart from an outpatient department and an Emergency department. Over 800 people will be appointed, Sharma said.