CHENNAI: Marking the expansion of the State's public healthcare and agricultural infrastructure, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday inaugurated the newly upgraded Tamil Nadu Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (TNIMHANS) and launched a series of major medical and farm-sector projects across the State through video conferencing.
"Such initiatives reflect our government's sustained commitment to accessible healthcare and remunerative agriculture," Stalin said, adding that investments in public institutions would continue to prioritise equity and scientific advancement.
The upgraded TNIMHANS, formerly the Madras Institute of Neurology, established in 1950, functions within the historic Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, a constituent of Madras Medical College, one of India's oldest medical institutions.
Tracing its origins to October 1950, when Dr B Ramamurthi founded the Department of Neurosurgery with a few beds on Vijayadasami day, the institute evolved into a premier centre for neurological sciences. It was modelled on the Montreal Institute of Neurology and went on to introduce several milestones, including India's first DM Neurology programme and the country's first MCh Neurosurgery course. The institute also described the new disease entity, Madras Motor Neuron Disease, in 1970.
Over the decades, facilities such as neuroradiology, EEG services, CT scanning, stroke units, epilepsy and movement disorder clinics, and advanced neuro-diagnostic laboratories were added. In 2015, the institute was bifurcated into separate Institutes of Neurology and Neurosurgery to strengthen academic and patient care services.
In addition to the TNIMHANS inauguration, Stalin opened multiple upgraded medical facilities, including a Rs 100 crore modernised Government District Headquarters Hospital in Hosur; a Rs 65 crore neurology block at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital; new blocks at the Tamil Nadu Government Dental College and Hospital; a Rs 40-crore de-addiction centre building at the Government Mental Health Hospital, Kilpauk; and an integrated emergency and neonatal care facility with a modern blood component separation unit at RSRM Maternity Hospital, Royapuram.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated maternal and child welfare buildings at Thirukkuvalai and Vedaranyam government hospitals.
In the agriculture sector, he launched 16 Uzhavar Angadis in Chennai and its suburbs to directly connect farmers with urban consumers. He also opened six integrated agricultural extension centres, seed storage facilities, regulated markets and a 100-metric-tonne cold storage unit.