CHENNAI: If all go as planned, the number of government medical college seats in the State may increase as the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), a Japanese aid agency, has sanctioned funds to boost the facilities of three government medical colleges and hospitals in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore.
According to health department officials, Rs356 crore has been sanctioned for infrastructure development for the three medical colleges: Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital, Chennai; Government Rajaji Medical College and Hospital, Madurai; and Government Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital,
Coimbatore. The project aims at building multispeciality blocks in these hospitals.
Besides this, JICA has also sanctioned nearly Rs75 crore for buying equipment for seven Government district headquarters hospitals.
The State Government has requested JICA to construct these buildings following the norms specified by the Medical Council of India. “As the State has a proposal to increase the number of medical seats, the plan has been made. Seats number and patient care will be enhanced by this,” said an official.
The officials intend to demolish very old buildings (75-80 years) to give way to the multispeciality blocks in these medical colleges.
The buildings were chosen after thorough study. The seven storey building will have five floors, ground floor and a basement. These buildings will have all the emergency care under one roof.
First floor will house two modular hybrid operating theatre, a surgical theatre that is equipped with advanced medical imaging devices such as CT, MRI scanners. “The surgeon can operate on the table looking at the MRI. This is the first of its kind in Government medical college hospitals in the State,” said Dr Narayana Babu, director of medical education (additional charge).
Babu added the multispeciality building would have all emergency wings under one roof, such as casualty, radiology, blood bank, IMCU, ICCU and others. This also reduces the treatment time. The patient need not be wheeled from one building to another to access different emergency departments.