A two-storeyed choultry providing free accommodation to 200 attendants of patients admitted to the King George Hospital was inaugurated in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Funded and conceptualised by Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy to provide shelter to attendants of poor patients, the choultry was inaugurated on the premises of the KGH.
The Rs. 4 crore project was funded by Mr. Reddy, while the hospital allotted the land and will foot the water and electricity bills.
The Visakhapatnam branch of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) will maintain the choultry and also provide free food to the attendants, the Rajya Sabha MP said at the inauguration function. The choultry has four dormitories, which can accommodate 50 beds each, besides two kitchens and two dining halls.
This would serve the long-felt need of the patients who throng the hospital from areas of Visakhapatnam apart from Vizianagaram and Srikakulam and States like Chhattisgarh and Odisha. As the patients are unable to get affordable shelter, they are forced to sleep under the trees or in the open.