ONGOLE: Two prominent medical facilities—a medical college with a 500-bed capacity and a de-addiction centre—will be coming up in Prakasam district soon. While the college is being built near Markapur town, arrangements for the centre’s inauguration are underway in Ongole. Work for the college to come up in the western part of the district has gained pace after district collector recently visited the 30-acre site in Rayavaram near Markapur.
The move to set up a de-addiction centre came after the steep hike in liquor price, done to dissuade people from consuming alcohol. The centre will be of 15-20 beds in Ongole government general hospital, RIMS. Central funds of Rs 3.7 crore per annum will be used for the maintenance.
While five psychiatrists and counsellors of the hospital have been tasked to treat addicts, notification for the recruitment of other staff, such as nurses and managers, has been issued. “Earlier, we had planned to inaugurate the de-addiction centre on May 25, However, Minister Balineni is expected to launch the centre on May 27 now,” Dr Sree Ramulu, GGH superintendent, told TNIE.