CHENNAI: Is the six-year old building at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital developing cracks? The building which was inaugurated by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2013 has been showing visible cracks.Authorities have written to the Public works Department officials to inspect it and certify whether it is safe.
A Public works department official, who is in-charge of the hospital building, told Express that he had written the letter to the planning and design wing of the PWD after noticing the visible cracks. "Yes, its a new building, but it started developing cracks. Last week we wrote a letter to the Planning and Design Wing of the PWD. They have to come and inspect the building and tell whether its safe or
not", the official said.
The New Tower Block (NTB) has 400 beds capacity and houses many departments like Emergency and Casuality, Orthopaedics, Cardiology, Radio Diagnosis, Nephrology, and Convicts ward.
When contacted by Express, Dr M Ramesh, Resident Medical Officer of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital said," They are expansion joints given during the construction and not cracks". This was echoed by a former PWD official. "If the building length exceeds 40m, we have to provide expansion joint. It is to allow thermal expansion. The officials leave 20cm gap. So, its not a crack but purposeful method done by the engineers," he said.
It was also learnt that Dr R Shanthi Malar, Dean, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital also wrote a letter to the PWD officials. However, she told Express,"Nothing has come to my knowledge. Regarding the issue, there is no fault in the building, and all the departments are functioning well". She also denied contacting PWD officials.
According to officials, the building construction was started in around 2010 and completed in 2013. The same year, it was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister through video conferencing from the Secretariat. It was constructed at a cost of around Rs 75 crores.