The proposed superspeciality hospital will come up on the erstwhile campus of the Siddhartha Medical College (SMC) that presently houses the Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences and Government General Hospital along with medical college.
The Assurances Implementation Committee of the Legislative Council visited several locations in the city to identify the best place for the proposed hospital.
The committee chairperson B. Changala Rayalu, along with members T.G.V. Krishna Reddy, Bommidi Narayana Rao, K. Rajyalakshmi and Jelli Wilson addressing a press conference, said that they would recommend to the State government that there was room enough to establish the super speciality hospital on the 48-acre SMC campus, in which other institutions like the Dr. N.T.R University of Health Sciences, the Government General Hospital, the Government Dental Hospital and the Drug Control Authority had place. There was still 16 acres available for the establishment of superspeciality hospital.
Mr. Rayulu said the committee members were under the impression that the SMC campus was better suited than all the other locations they visited.
The other locations the committee visited included 48 acres of Wakf land in Bhavanipuram, the TB sanatorium in Mangalagiri, eight acres belonging to the Labour Department again in Bhavanipuram, 25 acres of land earmarked for the Railways in exchange for the S.N. Puram railway track in Ajit Singh Nagar and 25 acres of Veterinary College, Gannavaram.
Debate
Minister for Animal Husbandry K. Parthasarathy said that only five acres were required for developing a superspeciality hospital, but the requirement would be 25 acres if it was to have teaching facilities.
Earlier, the members debated about establishing the superspeciality hospital in the old GGH at Hanumanpet and the old bus station with a bridge connecting the two compounds over the Ryve's Canal. The suggestion that the hospital could come up there, which was made by CPI MLC Jelli Wilson, was rejected by Ms. Rajyalakshmi and Mr. Krishna Reddy.