Seven years.
That's how long the people of Lohegaon waited.
A ₹38.80 crore hospital. Built. Ready. Locked.
While residents drove kilometres to Aundh District Hospital or Sassoon General for even basic care.
That wait finally ends on July 6. 🏥
Sanctioned seven years ago.
Built to serve a fast-growing pocket of Pune near the airport.
And yet — for years — locals kept asking the same question:
"If the building is done, what's the delay?"
No clear answer. Just more waiting.
On June 26, BJP MLA Bapu Pathare chaired a review meeting that finally cracked it open.
The decision: don't wait for the VIP ribbon-cutting.
Start OPD on a trial basis from July 6 to July 14.
Formal inauguration tentatively July 16 — pending the schedules of CM Devendra Fadnavis, both Deputy CMs, and the state health minister.
Because people shouldn't keep waiting for a photo-op. ⚡
Phase one is modest but real:
And the bigger ambition coming in phases:
The state has sanctioned 94 posts — medical officers, nurses, support staff.
Most are expected to join before the inauguration.
Civil work? Done.
Furniture? Installed.
Electricals? Wired up.
The machine is finally ready to switch on.
MLA Pathare's pitch is ambitious:
"It should evolve into a modern government hospital with surgery, maternity care, NICU, ICU and advanced diagnostic facilities."
Quality healthcare. Affordable. Close to home.
That's the promise.
Lohegaon isn't a sleepy village anymore.
It's the airport belt. Booming. Densifying. Aging.
And for seven years, every fever, every fracture, every emergency meant a long drive to a crowded city hospital.
On July 6, that calculus changes.
Not with a grand ceremony.
Not with garlands and speeches.
Just a quiet trial run — the kind of beginning that actually matters.
Sometimes progress doesn't arrive on schedule.
But when it finally walks through the door, it changes everything.
That's all for now!
