Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday allotted ₹110 crore to convert the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine, Tambaram; the Government Tuberculosis Hospital, Thoppur, in Madurai; the Government Medical College Hospital, Coimbatore; and the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Sanatorium in Thanjavur into isolation centres.
Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, he said the amount will also be used for upgrading the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research into a Bio-Safety Level III entity.
“This is necessary to prevent and combat contagious diseases like COVID-19, swine flu, bird flu and SARS,” he said.
The Chief Minister said an air ambulance facility would be created at a cost of ₹10 crore to quickly shift critical patients to hospitals.
A robotic surgical centre would be set up at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital at Omandurar Government Estate. The project’s cost is ₹34.60 crore.
500 ambulances
The government has decided to expand the 108 ambulance service by buying 500 more ambulances at a cost of ₹125 crore this year.
