Trichy or Madurai MCH to be upgraded

Salem, Tamil Nadu, Nov 1 (UNI) The Centre proposed to upgrade the Tiruchirapalli or Madurai Medical College Hospital as a Super Speciality Hospital, involving an outlay of Rs 120 crore, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said today.

Talking to newspersons here, he said the Health Ministry had given a proposal to this effect to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and after obtaining his consent, the project would be sanctioned.

Dr Ramadoss said work relating to upgrading the Salem Government Hospital as a Super Speciality hospital at a cost of Rs 120 crore would begin in a month's time and would be completed in 12 to 14 months.

He said the Centre would set up a 700-bed Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in a ten-acre site on the outskirts of Chennai in two years.

The National Cancer Institute, setting up the hospital at a cost of Rs 300 crore, had signed MoUs with the American National Institute of Health and France Institute of Cancer Research Organisation, he said.

The Minister said Tamil Nadu, which was in the forefront of implementing health schemes, should allocate Rs 100 crore each for the upgradation of ten medical college hospitals in the State. The Centre was willing to provide all assistance to the State in this regard, he added.

Dr Ramadoss said the 1.40 lakh sub-centres and 23,500 primary health centres in the country would be upgraded in three years. The Centre also proposed to upgrade the 3,900 taluk headquarter and 600 district headquarter hospitals by allocating Rs 20 lakh to Rs two crore and Rs two crore to Rs ten crore, respectively.

He said that for 2006-07, the Centre had allotted Rs 15,800 crore for health improvement schemes. Besides, a sum of Rs 12,000 crore had been allotted for the National Rural Health Project, of which Rs 400 crore had been sanctioned for Tamil Nadu.

UNI