Mangaluru : MLA J R Lobo has said that the state government has released Rs 10 crore for the upgrade of Government Wenlock Hospital to the status of Regional Hospital.

The legislator, who is also chairman of Wenlock Hospital Development Committee, was briefing media persons here on Tuesday.

He said that the state government in 2016-17 had also released Rs 5 crore. The amount will be used to construct a 200-bed super-speciality building with all modern facilities. A proposal in this regard has been submitted to the engineering wing. Once, it is ready, the hospital will have 1,000 beds.

Further, he said work on a three-storeyed building to accommodate a super-speciality wing, blood transfusion centre and ICU is taken up at a cost of Rs 15.16 crore. One third of the amount Rs 5.10 crore has been released by Arogya Raksha Samithi of the Wenlock Hospital. The ground floor of the building has been constructed and Nabard has released Rs 9.70 crore for the remaining three floors and the work is in progress, said the legislator.

He added that, to upgrade RAPCC in Mangaluru to Indira Gandhi Institute Of Child Health Hospital, the state government has sanctioned Rs 3 crore. Accordingly, Rs 1 crore would be utilised for the purchase of equipment and Rs 2 crore for the maintenance of the building, purchase of medicines, consumable and others.

A composite Ayush hospital building will come up on a vacant land in front of the logistics department on Wenlock Hospital premises at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore.

Stating that it would be first-of-its kind in the country, the MLA said that all the Indian system of medicines will be available under one unit. It will be a 50-bed capacity hospital. The tender process has been initiated for the work.

The MLA said that he will pressure the state government to provide free treatment to patients from Kerala with BPL card facilities at Wenlock Hospital.

A large number of poor patients from Kerala are treated at the hospital, however, they do not get free treatment unlike patients from Karnataka. Hospitals in border areas of Belagavi provide free treatment to patients. Similar facilities need to be extended to patients from neighbouring Kerala, he felt.

Further, he said that the work on the new block of the Government Lady Goschen Hospital, which is being built using funds provided by ONGC-MRPL, is likely to be ready by November. The state government has released Rs 10 crore to take up the work on external electrification, setting up an operation theatre, high-ventilation air conditioning system, which is under progress.