The capital city may get a new medical college hospital if the State budget for 2013-14 presented in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday works according to plan.
In his budget speech, Finance Minister K.M. Mani mooted a new medical college hospital by integrating the functioning of the General Hospital and the Women and Children’s Hospital at Thycaud.
Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar told The Hindu here on Friday that the city got its first medical college in 1952. A new college building may come up in 20 acres of land adjacent to the hospital at Thycaud.
“The institution need not be at one place. It can function out of both the General Hospital and the Thycaud hospital,” he said.
The budget has allocated Rs.28 crore for the development of the Medical College Hospital and the SAT Hospital. Allocations have been made for the construction of a new building at the Homeo College in the city and at the Pharmacy College.
The budget has set aside funds for the construction of a nursing college at Muttathara.
Not new: Sreemathy
The former Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy, on the other hand, pointed out that the idea of a new medical college was hardly new.
“This was something the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government mooted when I was the Health Minister. We had planned to sync the functioning of the two hospitals. Now, I doubt whether this scheme will materialise over this financial year,” Ms. Sreemathy said.
