Plans afoot to convert Omandurar complex to hospital

Chennai: Political turmoil and legal implications notwithstanding over the conversion of DMK-built new secretariat Omandurar Government Estate, the AIADMK government has made elaborate plans to convert one block of the complex into a multi-super specialty hospital.

The buildings wing of the Public Works Department has floated tenders and the total estimated cost of the proposed civil and electrical works has been fixed around Rs. 26.9 crore, according to a Hindu report.

The last dates for submission of various tender documents will be January 24 and 25. Sources say the government is keen on finalising the award of contracts expeditiously so that the works can be taken up immediately.
Plan in details According to the plans, the ground and first floors of the Block ‘A' will serve as outpatient wards for departments such as Oncology, Cardiology and Neurology. The second floor will house laboratories and other facilities for diagnosis.

The third and fourth floors will be used as general wards. The fifth and sixth floors of the block will be for special wards. Two floors of the public plaza located on the south-western side of the estate will be modified to accommodate operation theatres, intensive care units and recovery wards.

Besides this, tenders have also been invited for modifying the existing passenger lifts into patient-cum-passenger lifts. As per the original plan of the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, the Secretariat-Assembly complex would have two blocks – seven–storey Block A with 97,829 square metres and eight-storey Block B with 73,399 square metres.

On assumption of office in May last, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government decided to shift the Secretariat back to Fort St. George.
Then, a handful of departments of the government were functioning at the complex. In August, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced her government's decision to convert the new Secretariat-Assembly complex into a multi-super specialty hospital-cum-medical college.

While Block A would accommodate the hospital, the incomplete Block B would house the proposed medical college. Subsequently, officials of the Health and Public Works Departments went to different parts of the country to study the design of leading hospitals, after which the proposals were drawn up, the report further added.