Tambaram thoracic hospital to start work on new OP block

During monsoon season every year, the authorities at the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine (GHTM) in Sanatorium are forced to shift the Out-Patient block of the hospital to another block due to waterlogging. Now, after suffering this fate for years together, they are planning to construct a modern OP block within the campus which would not be affected by the rains.

Built in 1980, the present block houses the OP section on the ground floor. Every rainy season, water from the nearby hills flow into the premises, flooding the facility, making it impossible for the doctors and paramedics to work there. 

“Every year therefore, for approximately three to four months, we shift the unit to another block. Realising the challenges involved in the process, the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 6 crore to construct a modern Out Patient block,” said Dr S Kumar, State nodal officer for Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB) treatment. The work is expected to kick-start in under a month, with the tender for it already being floated. 

In the present phase, “Rs 60 lakh has been issued for the work, which is expected to begin within two to three weeks. The new two-storey block is expected to come up near the Rama temple there,” Dr Kumar added. 

As per the plan, the block would house male and female Out-Patient rooms, lecture halls, rooms for Ultra Sound and Pulmonary Function tests as well procedure rooms. Besides, there would be facilities available to administer injections and nebulisation. In addition to these facilities for patients, there would also be rooms for doctors and nurses as well, officials said. 

The government-run hospital for thoracic medicines receives an average of between 400 and 500 Out Patients regularly. Once the new block is commissioned, the hospital would be able to cater to more than 1,000 Out Patients every day, said officials. 

“With cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), bronchitis, and pulmonary diseases due to excessive smoking increasing by the day, there is a great need for centres to have sufficient facilities to treat the cases to meet the State’s goal of eradicating tuberculosis by 2025,” said another doctor at the hospital.