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Project to upgrade Salem hospital apace

Special Correspondent

File Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Union Minister of State for Health S. Gandhiselvan (left), at the construction site. –

SALEM: Salem is set to become a healthcare hub. The project to convert the Salem Government Medical College Hospital into a Rs. 140-crore superspecialty institution is apace.

“The hospital will be ready in three months,” said Union Minister of State for Health S. Gandhiselvan after inspecting the work on Tuesday. He promised additional funds for it if needed.

Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam and Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam, who accompanied the Union Minister, said the State had finalised the list of doctors and paramedical staff to be appointed here.

Equipment for the hospital is ready. Interior works such as whitewashing, providing air-conditioning ducts, flooring, fixing fire extinguishers, electrical works and medical gases ducts are being carried out in the five-storeyed project, which is coming up on 30,000 square metres. The hospital will have 11 modern operation theatres and 441 beds.

“Trauma and emergency care will be its thrust area as the neighbouring districts of Erode, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and parts of Villupuram witness frequent road accidents,” said a senior physician. The civil construction is over. The State has provided Rs. 40 crore and land.

Sanctioned by the then Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, the hospital is among five Government Medical College Hospitals which have been upgraded into the superspecialty status in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh at a combined cost of about Rs. 520 crore.

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