Designing Specialised Medical Centres: Oncology, Cardiology and Maternity Units

Designing specialised medical centres such as oncology, cardiology and maternity units is very different from planning a general hospital ward. Each specialty brings its own equipment, safety rules, patient journeys and building services, and a mistake in the layout can limit what the centre is able to treat for decades. This guide explains the key design requirements for oncology, cardiology and maternity units in Pakistan, what they have in common, where they differ, and how owners can plan a specialised centre that is safe, licensable and practical to run.

What Makes a Specialised Centre Different

A general hospital is designed for flexibility. A specialised centre is designed around a narrow set of treatments that rely on particular equipment and very specific room relationships. This affects almost every design decision:

• Equipment drives the building. A linear accelerator, a cath lab or a neonatal ICU sets room sizes, structure, power and cooling.
• Adjacencies are critical. Delivery rooms must be next to an obstetric theatre; a cath lab must be close to the CCU and cardiac theatre.
• Safety rules are specific. Radiation protection, cytotoxic drug handling and newborn security all need dedicated design responses.
• Patients are vulnerable. Cancer patients may be immunocompromised, cardiac patients may deteriorate quickly, and mothers and newborns need privacy and close observation.

Designing Oncology Centres

A modern oncology centre combines diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and supportive care. Not every centre includes all of these, so the brief must be clear from the start.

Radiotherapy bunkers

Linear accelerators and other radiotherapy machines are housed in heavily shielded concrete bunkers with mazes or shielded doors. The thickness and layout of the walls and roof are calculated by a qualified medical physicist for the machine, workload and the use of surrounding spaces. In Pakistan, radiotherapy facilities are licensed by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority, so the shielding design must be approved before construction. Our article on cancer hospital design and radiation bunkers explains this in detail.

Chemotherapy day care

Chemotherapy is mostly given in day-care units with comfortable treatment chairs or beds, good natural light and space for a companion. Cytotoxic drugs are prepared in a dedicated pharmacy with a biological safety cabinet or isolator, and the layout must keep preparation, delivery and waste handling safe for staff.

Infection control and comfort

Many oncology patients have weakened immunity. Inpatient rooms benefit from single occupancy, filtered air and easy-to-clean finishes. Waiting areas should be calm and uncrowded, with separate spaces for patients who are unwell.

Designing Cardiology Centres

Cardiac care depends on speed. A patient with a heart attack needs to move from the emergency department to the catheterisation laboratory in the shortest possible time.

Cath labs

A cath lab needs a procedure room large enough for the imaging system, staff and emergency equipment, a separate control room behind shielded glass, and an equipment room for the system cabinets. Walls, doors and glazing are lead-lined or otherwise shielded for X-ray use. The floor and ceiling must carry the imaging system, which affects the structure.

CCU and cardiac theatres

The coronary care unit should be next to or very close to the cath lab, with clear visibility of every bed from the nurse station. Cardiac surgery theatres need larger rooms than general theatres to fit the heart-lung machine and perfusion team, with ultra-clean ventilation and dedicated recovery. See our guide to cardiac hospital design and cath lab planning for more detail.

Non-invasive cardiology

ECG, echocardiography, stress testing and Holter monitoring can be grouped in an outpatient diagnostic suite with easy access from the entrance, so that most patients never need to enter the inpatient zone.

Designing Maternity Units

Maternity units serve mothers who are usually healthy but can need emergency care within minutes. The design must support both normal birth and rapid escalation.

Labour and delivery

Labour, delivery and recovery rooms allow a mother to stay in one room through birth, with privacy for her family. An obstetric theatre for caesarean sections must be immediately adjacent, not on another floor.

Neonatal care

A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) needs space around each incubator, medical gases and suction at every cot, careful temperature and humidity control, and low noise and light levels. Space for mothers to visit, express milk and practise kangaroo care improves outcomes.

Security and postnatal care

Maternity units need controlled access to protect newborns, with a single supervised entrance. Postnatal wards should offer privacy, family space and good washroom provision. Our article on gynaecology and obstetrics hospital design covers maternity planning further.

Outpatient, Diagnostic and Support Services

Most visits to a specialised centre are outpatient visits: consultations, follow-ups, tests and day treatments. A well-designed centre puts these near the entrance so that inpatient areas stay quiet and controlled. Imaging, laboratory and pharmacy are usually shared between specialties, so they should sit at the centre of the plan with short routes to each unit. Support spaces are easy to overlook but essential: clean and dirty utility rooms, equipment storage, staff changing and rest areas, and a sterile services department for theatre instruments. Leaving these out to save area almost always causes problems once the centre opens.

Patient and Family Experience

In Pakistan, patients are rarely alone. Families accompany mothers in labour, cancer patients through long courses of treatment and cardiac patients after surgery. Waiting areas sized for companions, prayer spaces, family rooms near the NICU and CCU, clear wayfinding in Urdu and English, and separate male and female facilities where appropriate make a real difference to how a centre is used and perceived.

Comparing the Three Specialties

Shared Engineering Requirements

Planning Process for a Specialised Centre

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Fixing the building before choosing major equipment, then finding rooms too small or structure too weak
• Placing the obstetric theatre or CCU on a different floor from the units they serve
• Underestimating radiation shielding and regulator timelines
• Providing too few medical gas outlets or insufficient backup power
• Ignoring space for families, which is especially important in maternity and oncology care
• Leaving no room to add a second bunker, cath lab or more NICU cots later

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Designing specialised medical centres for oncology, cardiology and maternity care starts with the clinical brief and the equipment, not with the building outline. Correct adjacencies, radiation protection, reliable medical gases and power, and well-designed ventilation are what make these centres safe and licensable. With specialist input early and a coordinated design, owners in Pakistan can build centres that treat patients well today and can grow with demand tomorrow.