Work on additional facilities at government hospital in Tirupattur begins

The District Headquarters Government Hospital in Tirupattur town will soon get additional facilities including a seven-storey new building that would provide specialised healthcare for eye, ENT, dental, orthopedics and cardiology.

The District Headquarters Government Hospital in Tirupattur town will soon get additional facilities including a seven-storey new building that would provide specialised healthcare for eye, ENT, dental, orthopedics and cardiology.

Accompanied by Jolarpet MLA K. Devaraji, Collector D. Baskara Pandian laid the foundation stone for the ₹56 crore-work on Saturday at the 3.25-acre premises. The new facilities will be completed in 18 months. “The hospital was upgraded into district headquarters facility in January. The additional facilities will help to cover more people especially from remote villages and tribal hamlets in the district,” K.T. Sivakumar, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the hospital, told The Hindu.

Built as a six-bed health centre way back in 1926, the hospital has specialised treatment for pregnancy and child care, a trauma care unit, paediatrics, orthopaedics, an antiretroviral therapy (ART) centre, and general medicine. But it has only three surgical theatres, mainly for orthopaedics and family planning, a small laboratory, blood bank and digital CT scanner.

On average, the hospital gets 2,700 outpatients every day. The hospital has 440 beds, of which at least 360 are occupied by patients throughout the year. The hospital has around 150 staff, including 34 doctors and 90 nurses, to handle such a volume of patients every day. The hospital does not have a visitors hall to treat outpatients.

As per the plan, the new building would have separate units for orthopaedics, ENT, eye, neurology, diabetics, and general medicine. Additional surgical theatres for these specialisations will be built. The outpatients will be treated in the spacious hall on the ground floor of the new building. The new facility will also have an integrated laboratory, a District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) for rehabilitation of children up to the age of six, a dialysis unit, and an emergency unit for accident victims. More wards for men and women would also be created.