After a delay of more than a year, the new trauma hospital in Jogeshwari, Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care hospital, will be inaugurated Monday. It is expected to become fully functional in around two months.

The 14–storey hospital will help reduce the burden on tertiary hospitals by 30 per cent, said BMC additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. "Along with Kandivali's Shatabdi Hospital, the centre will cater specifically to the suburban crowd," she said.

In a first, a BMC–run hospital will use solar panels to reduce dependence on electricity. A total of 160 solar panels will help heat 20,000 litres water daily.

The hospital will also cater to paediatric, gynaecology and orthopaedic patients. "There are seven neonatal intensive care units, 15 gynaecology beds and 30 orthopaedic beds for patients. We have also ensured that there is scope for expansion," said Mhaiskar. While 50 per cent of the resources will cater to trauma patients, the remaining will be for general medicine purposes.

Construction had begun in 2009 but the Rs 125–crore project was delayed owing to several reasons. Deputy city engineer Jitendra Gupta said an underground water pipeline had posed problems in construction of the building's base. The plan had to be modified. The estimated deadline, August 2012, had to be postponed to September this year and later to October.

The project will be included in the Sion Group of hospitals. With 304 beds in total, the hospital has allocated 25 beds as `paying beds', which will cost Rs 1,500–2,000. "The beds are meant for the middle–class, who can avail themselves of improved facilities at a reasonable rate," said Mhaiskar.

Dean Dr Avinash Supe said nearly 70 per cent of 282 posts at the hospital had been filled. "On the lines of the multi–purpose labour (MPL) policy implemented in Kandivali's Shatabdi Hospital, we will recruit 62 personnel on contract basis for MPL," said Supe.