The city’s public health infrastructure for maternal and child care will see a substantial expansion soon.
New buildings at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (IOG) and Institute of Child Health (ICH) will bring along additional beds and better facilities for mothers, newborns and children.
The buildings will add 700 beds to the existing strength of 1,282 beds at the two hospitals. The 169-year-old Government Maternity Hospital, Egmore, attached to IOG, presently has 752 beds and the new six-storey building consists of 400 beds, while ICH will get 300 beds in addition to its existing 537 beds, said director of medical education, V. Kanagasabai.
“Work on both buildings will be completed shortly,” he said. Built on 2,62,000 sq. ft. area, the building at IOG consists of basement, ground and five floors and has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 49.88 crore.
The maternity hospital was established in 1844 on the banks of the Cooum in Chintadripet. It was moved to the present location in Egmore in 1882 due to floods. It was upgraded to an institute in 1952, an official said.
“From 62 deliveries in 1844, the hospital now performs 18,000 deliveries per year,” he said. The ground floor has been allotted for labour room and postnatal ward consisting of around 150 beds for normal deliveries, while the first floor has post caesarean ward, intensive care unit for mothers, newborn intensive care unit and operation theatre.
The caesarean ward on the second ward will consist of 200 beds, while the antenatal ward on the third floor will have 200 beds. The fourth floor will have 40 beds for assisted reproductive technology, including in-vitro fertilisation and intra cytoplasmic sperm injection. There will be special wards, additional laboratories, faculty rooms, lecture halls, auditorium and library in the new structure, officials said.
The building at ICH consists of eight floors and has come up at a cost of Rs. 18.47 crore. “The construction work has been completed and work to install lifts is going on. There are seven paediatric units and one floor is being allotted to each unit with 40 beds,” an official said.
Besides this, the building will have a ward for the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme and an intensive care unit on the ground and first floors, he said.
