6 years on, new Indore hospital exists only on paper, but staff appointments come thick and fast

4 min readBhopalUpdated: Jul 3, 2026 06:52 PM IST

The Indore district hospital (pictured) has 300 beds. Adding this to the beds in civil hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres, the district has a total of just 1,240 government hospital beds outside of medical colleges.(Source: Facebook/District Hospital Indore)

Six years after the Madhya Pradesh government sanctioned a 100-bed civil hospital in Indore’s Khajrana area, authorities have not yet taken possession of the land allotted for it, and no building has been constructed. However, the state has been appointing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other staff to posts created for the hospital, with the latest appointment coming just last month.

The proposed hospital was approved on June 23, 2020, and was meant to serve Khajrana and the rapidly growing localities in its neighbourhood — an area with a population of more than 3 lakh people that currently does not have a secondary care facility and relies on the already stretched government hospitals in other parts of the district. The project is currently stalled at the pre-construction stage.

What has not stalled are appointments. Over the years, staff have been appointed to 87 sanctioned posts — specialist doctors, medical officers, staff nurses, laboratory technicians and pharmacists among them. The most recent appointment to the hospital was that of a laboratory technician this June.

The result is a hospital that exists administratively — in transfer orders, sanctioned posts and staffing rosters — but not physically. Indore Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Madhav Hasani confirmed that land had been allotted to the Health Department but not handed over. “A 100-bed civil hospital has been sanctioned for Khajrana, along with the necessary manpower. Land has been allocated to us, but we have not yet received physical possession of it,” he said, adding that the District Collector had directed the Joint Collector overseeing land matters to resolve the issue.

Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla, responding to questions on the delay, said the project remained on the government’s books despite a lack of progress on the ground. “Work could not start due to the land not being available,” he said.

Appointed staff attached to Sanjeevani Clinics

Those appointed to posts sanctioned for the hospital have, for now, been attached to several new Sanjeevani Clinics that the government has set up. Mukhyamantri Sanjeevani Clinics are part of an urban primary healthcare initiative of the Madhya Pradesh government. They were launched to provide free basic healthcare close to people’s homes, particularly in densely populated urban areas and economically weaker settlements where access to government health facilities is limited. The state has so far sanctioned 783 Sanjeevani Clinics, which provide free consultation, diagnostic tests and some medicines.

Chief Medical and Health Officer Hasani said around 85 Sanjeevani Clinics have been launched in Indore over the past two-and-a-half years, and that those appointed to the Khajrana hospital are working in these clinics for the time being.

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The Khajrana hospital was originally conceived to ease pressure on Indore’s major public facilities — M Y Hospital, MTH Hospital, P C Sethi Hospital and the District Hospital — which together serve patients drawn from across the wider Malwa region, and to bring secondary care closer to residents of Khajrana, Musakhedi, Tejaji Nagar, Bicholi Hapsi and other colonies that have expanded rapidly over the past decade.

Existing pressure on healthcare infra

Indore district’s annual health report lays bare the pressure already being faced by the existing healthcare infrastructure. According to the report, Indore’s sanctioned bed strength outside its medical colleges stands at 1,240, including 300 at the District Hospital, 520 spread across eight civil hospitals, 240 across eight Community Health Centres, and 180 across 30 Primary Health Centres.

Set against a district population estimated at close to 35 lakhs, that works out to under 0.4 government hospital beds per 1,000 people — well below the two-beds-per-1,000 standard that the National Health Policy calls for.

Under Indian Public Health Standards, each of Indore’s eight Community Health Centres is meant to serve a population of no more than 1.2 lakh. However, the district’s population is more than three times the combined capacity those norms assume.

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On the Khajrana hospital, the Chief Medical and Health Officer said the district was “working to resolve the land dispute so that construction can begin”.

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Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.

Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.

Expertise and Reporting Beats

Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:

National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.

Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).

Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.

Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.

Professional Background

Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.

Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.

Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.

Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.

Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.

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