ALL SPRUCED UP: The usually crowded and dirt smeared entrance of the Government General Hospital sports a clean and polished look a couple of days ahead of the inauguration of the two new blocks at the hospital by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. — Photo: M. Karunakaran.

CHENNAI: For more than two days now, entry to the Government General Hospital's twin tower block has been restricted.

Security is tight, says a senior doctor. On Wednesday afternoon, nurses were briefed about the inauguration schedule. By evening, more safari-clad men swarmed the building. Finishing touches are being given inside the building. Atop the twin towers, large balloons with Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's picture are afloat.

Outside the building, the auto stand and encroachments have been removed. On an ordinary day, this area houses at least a dozen vendors selling anything from bags to sugarcane juice to buttermilk.

The subway leading to the Central Railway Station is being spruced up.

The tiles on the roof are being re-laid in anticipation of the Chief Minister's inauguration of the hospital's new buildings on Friday.

The hospital staff are busy. Beds and cots have been unloaded and the rooms are being prepared. Each ward has room for at least 20 beds.

With eight lifts and four fire hydrants on each floor [two to a corridor], the large and airy rooms and clean surroundings bring to mind just one thought: how long will they be clean? Doctors, students and nurses alike echo the sentiment.

Pay wards

The 10 pay wards on each floor are alphabetically marked. On every floor, along the rear end of the building that houses the fire exit are toilets for the disabled, one each for men and women.

The emergency ward has a special room for poison victims, complete with taps and other provisions to wash the stomach of toxic substances. According to a doctor, the casualty ward gets at least one poison victim every day. The resuscitation room, with five beds, will be air-conditioned. Those who need sutures or shots will have a separate room for themselves. The covered visitors' lounge in the centre gives a view of all the six floors. A water cooler has been provided.

The self-contained emergency ward has an operation theatre, a CT scan, blood bank, trauma orthopaedic ward and trauma general surgery ward. General surgery and medical wards have around 40 beds each. The wards have separate cabins for duty nurses and doctors. There is provision for stores, utility and even pantry.

Conference rooms

Each floor has conference halls and there is a separate floor for victims of poisoning and disaster. Besides the various operation theatres, building management control, geriatrics, anaesthesia and gastroenterology, physiotherapy departments will also be housed in the new building. Some rooms are earmarked for students; others are called conference or seminar halls. There is even a video-conferencing hall.

The British set up a hospital for its army in 1664. It graduated into a model institution and, in 1835, the Madras Medical College was established. Though Indians were admitted as students, they were not admitted as tutors till Independence.

The new building was mooted after the female ward in the old building collapsed in 2000.

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