Come Monday, the city’s only communicable diseases centre will begin operations from a new, state-of-the-art premises.
Modernisation of the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet began in 2009. The past few months, the civic body granted a number of deadline extensions to the 1.10-lakh sq. ft. hospital that is coming up on an 8.5-acre plot on Tiruvottiyur High Road.
The first block of the new facility, comprising 120 beds, will be functional next week, along with the kitchen and administrative blocks.
The modern hospital is expected to aid the civic body handle communicable diseases that break out with the onset of monsoon.
Work on the remaining two blocks is in progress. The existing hospital has about 200 beds that are insufficient for a large city such as Chennai that faces consistent challenges to public health.
The modern facility will help patients not just in Chennai but also those from neighbouring districts. The new hospital will have a block each for airborne infections, diarrhoeal diseases and fever. There will also be separate buildings for laboratories, outpatients and laundry.
