Rectification work under way at Institute of Ageing building

CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian inspected the King Institute building which was planned to be changed back to the Institute of Ageing along with the officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) and PWD and Highways Minister E V Velu on Monday.

The inspection was done to check the stability and safety of the building.

Earlier in May, the Health Minister had stated that the quality of the hospital structure was not good and it might be unsafe for patients. In many places, parts of the hospital are damaged and a dedicated Covid facility could not be converted back into a geriatric hospital earlier because of its bad condition.

A committee of technical experts, including Manu Santhanam, professor of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, M Vasudevan supervising engineer, planning and design circle from Public Works Department and C Balamurugan, executive engineer at Tamil Nadu Government Building Research Institute was formed by the government. The committee stated that the building was in good condition except for some defects in the plaster work of the building.

The Health Minister said that some recommendations to rectify the defects in the coating work of the building have been made. "All chipped coatings on internal walls and external walls should be recoated with chemical treatment as required for better bonding. All interior and exterior walls shall be repainted with Weather Proof Emulsion Paints. It is recommended that the rainwater pipes should be re-arranged slightly higher than against the main walls of the building, and that the sewer pipes and rainwater pipes along the external walls of the building should be kept away from all study rooms."

“Work is already under way to address these issues. Work will be completed soon and the building of the National Institute of Ageing will be put to use," he added.