“A six-storey tower block on Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) premises is about 60% ready and expected to be completed by December-end,” said Madurai Medical College Dean A. Rathinavel here on Tuesday.
The block under construction was funded by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said an official in-charge of the project.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said the project was being realised on an area of 2,09,595 square feet at a total cost of ₹325 crore — ₹150 crore for the construction of the block and ₹175 crore for high-end medical equipment.
The objective of the building was to offer advanced and modernised medical facilities to people, he added. “The tender process of procuring high-end medical equipment is at various stages and will be finalised gradually,” he said.
The official noted that an external agency recruited by JAICA did periodic quality control checks of the ongoing construction works.
The building would house Cardio Emergency, Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery, Radiology, Plastic Surgery Outpatient and Central Sterile Supply Departments, two Cathlabs, an imaging centre and an elaborate sewage treatment plant.
The official said all the floors would house post-anesthetic and post-operative care units and a total of 150 beds would be set up on the wards on the second and third floors.
“The tower block will house 22 state-of-the-art operation theatres on its fourth, fifth and sixth floors. Another feature of the tower block would be the hybrid theatre on the sixth floor which few private hospitals offer and is one of its kind at government hospitals,” he said.
Each operation theatre would be realised approximately at a cost of ₹1 crore, with all the features of a “modular operation theatre,” with highly advanced equipment giving a real-time analysis of a patient, he said.
“The operation theatre environment will be highly sterile with clean ‘bacteria-free’ air which is crucial to provide the best medical care,” he stated.
The foundation stone for the project was laid on February 8, 2021, and the construction began on April 26, 2021.
