King Institute may house National Institute of Ageing

April 26, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:36 am IST - CHENNAI:

About eight acres of the King Institute of Preventive Medicine’s campus may soon house the National Institute of Ageing.

A five-member Central government team, which is in the State to examine sites for the establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), arrived in Guindy on Saturday morning to take a look at the campus.

Speaking to the press, Dharitri Panda, joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, said the team has noted there are many trees on the Guindy campus, and have asked for a mapping of the trees in order to minimise damage during construction of the institute.

“The institute will be a 200-bed specialist geriatric facility linked to Madras Medical College (MMC). We can increase the number of beds later, if necessary. Research, training and producing specialists are among its aims.

There will be 15 postgraduate seats in geriatric medicine at the institute,” she said.

The Rs. 150-crore project has been approved in the 12{+t}{+h}Five Year Plan, she said. Among other facilities, the institute will have a Frail Elderly Clinic, an Aids and Appliances Clinic, and an Implants and Cosmetic Clinic.

The institute will be one of only two in the country, with the other at AIIMS in Delhi. “We decided to locate the institute in Chennai partly due to MMC’s contribution to this field,” she said.

GGH Block

Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GGH) is set to get a new tower block for outpatients.

The hospital will also get a block for the urology and nephrology departments as well as a separate rheumatology block, said J. Radhakrishnan, State health secretary, at the golden jubilee celebrations of the urology department on Friday.

S. Geethalakshmi, director of medical education, said the kidney transplants performed by the department had helped a number of patients. She also highlighted the importance of starting fellowship courses for specific surgeries as well as holding live workshops.

R. Vimala, hospital dean, said a postgraduate students’ hostel is also coming up.

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