A subway will be constructed in front of the Government Medical College Hospital to help patients and caregivers cross to the other side of road, where most of the medical shops are, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said. Announcing the subway at a high-level meeting presided over by Public Works Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju here on Wednesday, Mr. Sivakumar said the subway would reduce the chaos in front of the hospital when people tried to cross the busy road. The PWD Minister had already asked for a feasibility study report from the Kerala Road Fund Board on the subway, he added. The PWD would also take up the construction of a flyover connecting the MCH block and the outpatient block.
The subway is expected to help not just the thousands of patients and their attendants who throng the MCH, the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, the Regional Cancer Centre and the SAT Hospital, but also to reduce the traffic congestion in the area. At present, the junction in front of the MCH, where roads from Pettah, Pattom, Ulloor and Chalakuzhi merge, is a tough one to negotiate for drivers, and pedestrians, during peak hours.
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Decisions to establish a new nurses’ hostel on the SAT Hospital premises and to give the medical college a fresh look with a new coat of paint were also taken at the meeting.
The other decisions include one to complete the construction of the Anayara Railway Over-Bridge (ROB) by October 15; to permit land acquisition for the Pettah additional ROB, the project report of which had been submitted to the IIT Chennai for proof checking; and to discuss with the Kerala Water Authority the re-alignment of the water pipeline that passes through the area. The KWA, in view of the construction of the Thakaraparambu flyover, has already re-aligned the 700-mm pipeline in the area. The adjacent 400-mm pipeline will be shifted soon.
Rajeev Sadanandan, Principal Secretary (Health), T.O. Suraj, PWD Secretary, KRFB Chief Administrative Officer P.C. Harikesh and Director Medical Education V. Geetha, along with other senior officials were present at the meeting.
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