The Municipal Free Maternity Home and Ward opened in 1951 at Chinnakadai Street here has been in a dilapidated condition and posing a threat to the safety of para-medical personnel.
The building is located in the middle of a vast area of about two acres. The foundation for the building, according to a plaque at the entrance to the building, was laid by the then Governor of Madras, Sir Arthur James Hope on November 29, 1943. It was declared open in 1951.
The maternity home catered to the needs of the pregnant women of a cluster of villages in and around Mayiladuthurai. It took care of pre-natal and post-natal needs of women from Kottankudi, Malapakkiam, Moongiltghoppe, Dharmapuram, Achuthayapuram and Naluthukudi.
The hospital, constructed by the Dharmapuram Adheenam, was named after the Adheenam. But, in course of time, the municipality took over the hospital for maintenance. There are five halls where at least 15 beds had been used for post-delivery care. Special infrastructure had been provided at the labour room with adequate ventilation, electric fans, and tube-lights.
But the building has become weak and unsafe for occupation over the years. The municipality constructed a building at Koranadu, about a couple of km from the town. The Dharmapuram Adheenam Free Maternity Home and Award is so popular among the local masses that even now women with labour pain are brought to this building. We are here only to guide them to the municipal hospital at Koranadu, says a source. “In fact, my mother was born here,” an official said, indicating the service rendered by the hospital in the past. The post of municipal doctor has been lying vacant and a gynaecologist from the Health Department has been working on temporary basis, the source said.
Pointing out that the old Dharmapuram Adheenam Free Medical Home and Ward was so weak that it could neither be repaired nor maintained, a source said the municipality has taken up a proposal for expansion of the hospital at Koranadu. The structure of the old building was so weak that there was no alternative except to demolish it so that its area could be utilised for some income-generation activity including shopping complex.
“We will conduct a study in the area shortly,” an official who assumed charge recently, told ‘The Hindu.’
