The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Search on for land for super speciality hospital

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Search on for land for super speciality hospital

G.V.R. Subba Rao

Government favourable if Krishna administration provides land: Minister

DRC meet seeks clarification on reported move to locate hospital at Mangalagiri
Revival of plan for the hospital near old bus-stand land sought

MACHILIPATNAM: The State Government is contemplating acquiring land to construct a super speciality hospital in Vijayawada, according to Mandali Buddha Prasad, Minister for Animal husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the District Development Review Meeting (DDRC) here on Friday, Mr. Buddha Prasad said that the district administration had zeroed in on a few plots for the hospital. The Government would take a positive decision very soon, he said.

Mr. Buddha Prasad said that the Ministers from the district, including Rural Water Supply Minister Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao and himself, represented to Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy that the Government should set up the hospital in Vijayawada. The Chief Minister assured them that the Government had no objection if the district administration could find sufficient land for the hospital, he said.

Earlier, cutting across party lines the MLAs and the MLCs from Krishna district raised their voices against the State Government’s reported decision to set up a super speciality hospital in Mangalagiri in Guntur district. They expressed the view that the people of the district were “sufficiently insulted” by the government’s proposal to construct the hospital at Mangalagiri. Raising the issue, Vijayawada (West) MLA Sheik Nasar Vali expressed the view that the Government should revive the old plan to construct the hospital at old RTC bus stand land in Vijayawada. He also wanted the Ministers who were on the dais to clarify whether the Government had any plans to set up the hospital at Mangalagiri as reported in some section of the press. Taking the discussion further, MLC Paladugu Venkat Rao said: “People of Krishna district are sufficiently insulted. The Government in 1991 itself had assured that the RTC bus stand land would be given to the Government General Hospital. Now, there is no need to deviate from that decision.”

Mr. Venkat Rao recalled that there was a proposal to name the super speciality hospital after Kakani Venkatratnam, a prominent leader from Krishna district. But, successive governments had forgotten the demand, and named health university after former chief minister NTR Rama Rao, he said.

Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal expressed the view that the Government should not allow the APSRTC to hand over the site to private institutions. The Government should take necessary steps to ensure that the land was utilised for the hospital purposes, he said.

Nandigama MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and others also favoured the hospital at Vijayawada.

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