North DMC Medical College: innovative project management and new paradigm of development

Establishment of a Medical College in Hindu Rao Hospital by North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC) within a period of 6 months was a huge challenge. The Project Management Team devised innovative methods to achieve the complex task of establishing a Medical College within the existing infrastructure of a functioning hospital by spending less than INR 70 million. The concept was new and implementing it required tremendous hard work, creative and innovative thought process, real time decision making, and fast implementation. The fact that the college was being established by a government agency meant that all procedures and approvals had to be obtained from competent authorities before initiating any activity. In order to achieve the desired outcome, time lines were squeezed and senior officers personally interacted with concerned authorities to get the necessary approvals. The project was implemented by adopting a new paradigm of development. Rather than establishing the new Medical College and Hospital from scratch, a scientific and detailed gap analysis was done within an existing and fully functional hospital. This was aimed at identifying the possibility of establishing a Medical College in a general hospital with minimum re-structuring of infrastructure, optimum utilization of available space, innovative methods of business process re-engineering and integrating the old with the new. The time bound implementation of this project is a classic example of top management commitment and strong team building leading to organizational change. The change was both in terms of perception of Corporation’s ability to deliver complex projects in short time and in terms of stakeholders’ participation and integration with the objectives of the project. The project put to extreme test the ability of the team to deliver in face of heavy odds. The effective and seamless integration of tactical steps with strategic goals showcase efficient and effective project planning and implementation. The conventional method of project management was abandoned to adopt a fast track approach of parallel management of activities and resources to achieve desired results in an extremely short time. Many uncertainties and unforeseen problems during the short period of implementation had the potential to derail the whole process. But quick and innovative steps and out of box thinking to go around the problems and converting challenges into opportunities led to successful final outcome.