The new six-storey building which will house all Cooper Hospital facilities will open on Saturday, a year behind schedule.
Cooper is perhaps the busiest civic healthcare centre in the suburbs, serving an estimated 8 lakh people every year.
The out-patient department will begin functioning on the new premises on Monday, an official said. All other departments will be moved to the new building in phases and this would be completed in six weeks. “We will be done with the shifting of the entire set-up by January,” said Manisha Patankar-Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner.
The old building of the hospital in Juhu was declared unfit for occupation over a decade ago, but the cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) initiated work on modernising the facility only in 2009.
The new building cost Rs321.63 crore and will have 636 beds against 520 beds previously. Of these, 51 beds will be utilised for patients paying for their treatment. The intensive care unit will have 65 beds.
The new set-up has rainwater harvesting and solar heating systems as well as a more efficient sewerage treatment plant.
The old hospital building will temporarily accommodate the medical college that will train about 150 students. “A new building for the college is to be built on a plot nearby within two years,” the additional commissioner said.
