PGI’s new 334-bedded futuristic hospital has jumped out of the science fiction world of Star Trek and its 23rd century. For the patients to get undisturbed sleep, the hospital has circadian lighting system that synchronises with the body’s biological clock. The central public works department claimed the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) as first of its kind in India. The interiors have got fewer lights and the fixtures that adjust according to the amount of natural sunlight. This saves patients the jetlag kind of disturbed sleep they experience in ususal hospitals where natural light doesn’t filter in. Under those ordinary lights, the patients used to feel gloomy. The new lights and air circulation system will improve their condition and the health of the staff and visitors.
This hospital has many other futuristic technologies such as pneumatic tube transport for propelling container to labs. The attendants and patients do not have to carry samples of urine and blood to the testing centre physically, since a network of tubes will take it there within 30 seconds. The fire-safe, infection-free environment is another design level. At the time of blaze, fire curtains drop and work like a chimney to expel the smoke. The wards have calling systems for nurses and the walls and switches have antibacterial coating. The monitors display real-time air quality. The cost of making this is Rs 170 crore, and covers 10 modular operating theatres for the department of ENT, hepatology, endocrinology, surgical oncology. Optimised designing has cut down the cost. Many technologies are borrowed from Germany and Switzerland but every system is designed in-house.
