Visakhapatnam will be developed into a health hub as many super-speciality hospitals are coming up in the city, according to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He was speaking here on Monday after inaugurating the Visakhapatnam Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS). He said VIMS, located on 100 acres in the heart of the city, would be developed into a major super-speciality hospital like the NIMS in Hyderabad.

The health city project was also coming up in the vicinity of VIMS, he said. Many hospitals had been allocated sites in the health city.

Earlier in the day the foundation stone had been laid for a 500-bed ESI hospital to be built at a cost of Rs 700 crore at Sheelanagar in the city. "The King George Hospital (KGH) here, which has been serving the people from the time of the British, would not be neglected and would also be developed to meet the health needs of all sections," the CM promised.

Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was ahead of others in taking advantage of various schemes launched by the NDA Government and hoped that the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences would be developed on the lines of the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad.

Earlier, at the foundation-stone laying ceremony for the ESI hospital at Sheelanagar, Labour Minister B. Dattatreya said bed strength at the hospital was being increased to 500 from 300 and the allocation for it to Rs 700 crore from Rs 420 crore on the request of the CM. He said 100-bed ESI hospitals would also be built at Pydibhimavaram in Srikakulam district, Vizianagaram and Kakinada in the State.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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