VELLORE: Medical professionals have no idea of the fate of the present Vellore Pentland Taluk Hospital once the proposed Rs 197 crore-multi super specialty hospital comes up in two years, sources revealed.
Moves are afoot to construct a ground plus five floors multi super specialty complex in the Pentland Hospital complex for which all old condemned buildings were recently razed by the PWD. “It is likely to be finished in two years and will boast of nearly 10 super specialties, including cardiology, neurology, nephrology and obstetrics and gynaecology,” a senior medical administrator said.
Asked what would happen to the present taluk hospital functioning in the same campus, the source said, “We are not sure whether it will be removed and the whole complex will become a multi super specialty campus, but we have asked officials to allow the labour and casualty wards to function.”
“At present, about 125 beds of the old hospital continue to function,” an official said. However, for locals, moving the hospital out of town will affect daily OP numbers, locals felt. With the Vellore Govt Medical College Hospital being 8 km away, it will be ideal for local poor if a smaller hospital is located nearby, they said.
Pentland Hospital has a hoary past. Started as a clinic in 1882, it was upgraded to a hospital in 1915 and inaugurated by the then Governor of Madras Pentland whose name was attached to the new unit. It subsequently became the HQ hospital for the then North Arcot district and drew sizeable crowd due to its location in the heart of the town.
Subsequently, the hospital was downgraded to a taluk hospital when the Vellore Government Medical College Hospital came up at Adukamparai on the Tiruvannamalai Highway in 2005. The HQ tag was given to the Wallajahpet Government Hospital presently in Ranipet district. Though moves were afoot in 2019 to make Pentland the HQ hospital again due to Wallajah hospital being in Ranipet district, the proposed multi super specialty complex has become a game changer with nobody knowing what will happen to the Pentland taluk hospital.
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