VISAKHAPATNAM: Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday laid the foundation stone for AIG Hospitals at Yendada in Anandapuram mandal of Visakhapatnam district. The project involves an investment of Rs 2,000 crore over five years and will have a planned capacity of 1,000 beds.
Lokesh performed the bhoomi puja and laid the foundation stone in the presence of AIG Hospitals Chairman Dr D Nageshwar Reddy. He also unveiled the foundation plaque and watched an audio-visual presentation on the hospital.
The hospital will be developed in phases. The first phase, with 650 beds, is scheduled to be completed by October 2028, while the second phase, with another 350 beds, will be completed within two years. The project is expected to create employment for 9,000 people.
The hospital campus will be spread across nine acres, with a nursing college coming up on 2.5 acres. The campus will bring together medical services, training and research for patients.
Eight Centres of Excellence, covering more than 50 medical specialities, will be established based on the services available at AIG Hospitals in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. An outpatient block with a capacity to handle 5,000 patients a day is also planned. The hospital is expected to have 1,000 doctors providing services.
Speaking at the programme, Lokesh said the government would give greater attention to education and healthcare.
AIG marks new healthcare phase in Vizag: Dr Nageshwar Reddy
“Education and healthcare are very important in life. That is why I chose the Education Department. The change we seek in society can be achieved only through education. We will pay greater attention to the education and healthcare sectors. All of us need to work together for this,” he said.
He said doctors had made sacrifices in their profession, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, when they worked despite the risks to their own lives.
Lokesh said he had a close association with Nageshwar Reddy and described him as a person who worked with commitment. He recalled that Nageshwar Reddy would travel overnight to Singapore for conferences, complete the programme and return without even staying at a hotel.
Lokesh said AIG Hospitals was not just another corporate hospital and that Nageshwar Reddy had focused on making quality healthcare available to poor people.
Lokesh said the government would extend all possible support to AIG Hospitals and welcomed the hospital to Visakhapatnam.
“We will develop Visakhapatnam into a trillion-dollar economic region. You have chosen the right place at the right time. Let us all work together to provide quality healthcare,” he said.
Lokesh said AIG had a 32-year history, with 1,400 beds, 350 ICU beds and had treated one million patients. The Visakhapatnam project would provide care, training and research facilities and create 9,000 jobs, he added.
AIG Hospitals Chairman Nageshwar Reddy said the project marked the beginning of a new phase in healthcare in Visakhapatnam. “I was born at King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam. I spent the first six years of my life here. My childhood memories are here,” he said.
He said he had wanted to return to Visakhapatnam after establishing AIG Hospital in Hyderabad and that the support of CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Minister Lokesh had helped make it possible.