BENGALURU: North Bengaluru is set to get a 125-bed government hospital at Bellahalli in Yelahanka taluk, with Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda laying the foundation stone for the Rs 75-crore facility on Sunday.
The three-floor building, including the ground floor, will provide multiple specialised medical services. The government is planning to add two more floors in the future, increasing the capacity from 125 to 250 beds.
Two acres of land behind the hospital have also been earmarked for a future super-speciality block. Byre Gowda said the objective was to gradually develop the facility into a major healthcare centre serving north Bengaluru.
The hospital is one of two new 125-bed hospitals, each estimated to cost Rs 75 crore, for which foundation-laying ceremonies were held. The second facility is coming up at the Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Department premises in the Hebbal Assembly constituency.
Byre Gowda said the project would address a longstanding gap in healthcare infrastructure in the Byatarayanapura constituency.
The constituency stretches from the MS Ramaiah College and Ring Road area to the Narayanapura border and up to Kempegowda International Airport. It does not have a separate taluk headquarters, making it difficult to establish a major government hospital under the usual system of locating taluk hospitals at taluk headquarters. While one part falls under Yelahanka taluk and another under KR Puram taluk, residents lacked access to a large government hospital in their vicinity.
“Recognising this gap, we have been pursuing the matter continuously for the past four to five years. Today, that effort has finally translated into the foundation for a 125-bed, fully equipped government hospital,” Byre Gowda said.
The hospital is expected to benefit residents of Thanisandra, Kempapura, Kogilu, Nagawara, Hegdenagar, Jalahobli, Marenahalli, Sathanur and Bagalur, besides surrounding rural and urban settlements.
The Minister said the area has a substantial population of workers and middle-class families for whom private healthcare can be a significant financial burden. He also said a 60-bed hospital constructed by the Greater Bengaluru Authority at Singapura has been completed and is ready for inauguration.
Health Minister UT Khader, MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, other public representatives and officials were present.