The 75{+t}{+h}year celebrations of the Government Rajaji Hospital, which will commence on January 23, will go on till November, M.R. Vairamuthu Raju, the Dean of the hospital, said.
The hospital was inaugurated in its present location on November 18, 1940, as “The Erskine Hospital”. The Dean said that though the celebrations ought to have commenced in November, they were postponed following the flood situation in many parts of the State.
As part of the platinum jubilee year, Dr. Raju said that the hospital administration had made a request to the government to allocate Rs. 75 crore for improving the infrastructure of the hospital. “Similar allocation of Rs. 50 crore was made during the golden jubilee celebrations. So, we are hopeful that the government will positively consider our request,” he also said.
On the inauguration of the celebrations on January 23, in which Ministers are expected to participate, a platinum jubilee arch being constructed near the administrative block entrance would be opened and foundation stones for two more arches laid, the hospital sources said.
The Dean, in an interaction with reporters here on Monday, said that conferences by all the 35 departments in the college, medical exhibitions, cultural festivals and functions to recognise the staff members from each department had been planned.
An organising committee headed by the Dean had been formed to monitor the year-long celebrations with V. Pugalagiri, Chairman and Managing Director of Vadamalayan Hospitals, and an alumnus of Madurai Medical College, as the coordinator and K. Senthil, president of Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association, as secretary.
