The MKCG Medical College and Hospital’s old indoor building, which public works department had declared unsafe six years ago, is still functioning with the same poor infrastructure, putting lives of the patients, attendants, doctors and the staff at risk.

The MKCG Medical College and Hospital had started functioning in the 1960s. Banka Bihari Das inaugurated this three-storey indoor ward building 45 years ago on February 11, 1973. Though some departments have been shifted to new buildings, especially built for them, some such as the ENT, orthopaedics, surgery, cardiothoracic and cardiology ones with more than 500 beds are still running in the unsafe building.

“When 90 beds have been shifted to the new orthopaedics building, 60 beds are still there in the old indoor ward. The departments of cardiothoracic and cardiology would be shifted to a new separate building shortly. The decision about accommodating 30 beds of the ENT department would be taken subsequently. Only the seminar hall of the department of surgery was shifted to the newly inaugurated super speciality block recently. The surgery department beds would be shifted to the new super speciality block after the basic infrastructure of the new building is fulfilled,” said MKCG principal Dr Radha Madhab Tripathy.

The old indoor building also houses the office of the superintendent and other administrative offices, including those of the chief matron, the record room and others.

“The lack of operation theatre set-up, sterilisation facility, oxygen supply system and some other problems are preventing us to shift the department of surgery to the newly built super specialty block. It would take some more time,” said a senior faculty member of the department of surgery.

“Most of the beams and columns have collapsed, and the frame has been in a dilapidated condition. The three-storey indoor building is unsafe. We declared it unsafe after our chief engineer inspected it on September 8, 2012,” said the works’ executive engineer (Berhampur division I) Binod Padhi.

However, hospital manager Amitav Mohanty said the patients of the old indoor ward building would be shifted within one week.