Mangaluru : The work on the new six-storey building of the Lady Goschen Hospital will be completed by June-end and the building will be opened for public use in July said MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.

Speaking after inspecting the work on the building on Monday, he said he has directed the contractor to speed up the work on the building. The work on the last floor of the building and ICUs are in progress, he added.

A portion of the 169-year-old government hospital was demolished in 2011 to facilitate the construction, when a donor provided Rs 18 crore for the construction of a new multi-storeyed building. The then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had laid the foundation stone in April 2011.

However, the work failed to take off. Later, new building under CSR activities of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), an Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), the work on the building commenced in 2013. The MRPL-ONGC had given Rs 21.7 crore while the Union government, under National Health Mission, released Rs 10 crore for the work. The tender has been invited for Rs 10 crore and another Rs 3 crore work (which is pending from Rs 21.7 crore released by the MRPL). Though the work was stalled initially, later it was resumed after MRPL offered to sanction funds under its CSR activities, the MP said.

The deadline for the completion of the work was extended several times. The work was delayed due to various reasons, he said.

The MP said once the work on six-storey building is complete, then Lady Goschen will be a 600- bed hospital. The hospital will have all the state-of-the art facilities.

“I have directed the officials to purchase new beds for the new building of the hospital and not to shift the old beds from the hospital’s old building,” he said.

The officials have been directed to submit a proposal to the department of Health and Family Welfare for the purchase of new beds and other required materials for the building. The new block will ease space constraints of maternity hospital,” he said.

Kateel said that the inauguration of the building is likely to be attended by Union Health Minister J P Nadda, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

MRPL MD H Kumar, DHO Dr Ramakrishna Rao and Lady Goschen Hospital superintendent Dr Savitha and others were present.