Soon at KEM, the doctor will see you now, in this container!

A container similar to this will be made operational at KEM Hospital in two months. Pic/Sameer Markande

In another two months, visitors to KEM Hospital's ENT, neurology and psychiatric outpatient departments (OPDs) will be treated in an air-conditioned container to allow for renovation of the second floor of the facility.

The container, similar to ones parked on construction sites, will be the first such being offered by any civic-run hospital. A ‘tent' near the container will accommodate waiting patients and their attendants. The OPDs that will be affected are on the first floor of the hospital, and see some 6,000 patients every day.

Since OPDs deal only with consultations, the containers can be used to diagnose aliments and refer patients for treatment to other departments or even admission, if needed.

Dr Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital, said the plan is still in the works. "We plan to use an air-conditioned container for the OPD. A proper tender will be floated for the same in around two months."

The second floor's seminar hall and medical intensive care unit will be taken up for renovation after the staff begins to use the container on campus.

Since KEM Hospital is a primary health care facility for patients from the city as well as outside, the OPDs cannot be shut during renovation. A builder, who has been tasked with the revamp work, says the high inflow of patients will makes it difficult to undertake any construction within the facility. "It is an operational hospital. Hence, it is very difficult to carry out any work in the building. The high patient inflow has delayed our work."