Health City ready to start in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: The much spoken about — and delayed — Health City is finally rising up at Chinna Gadhili here in the city, showing that it is, after all, in the pink of health.

The Apollo Group’s world class facility, the 10-acre, 300-bed Apollo Health City will be inaugurated on April 30 by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. At least half a dozen corporate hospitals are setting up their centres here. Pinnacle Hospitals India Pvt Ltd director, Ragam Kishore said that Health City was likely to become a major hub in the coming days.

“The area is away from the city and has very good surroundings and atmosphere. Patients need not go to big cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Chennai any more as all facilities are available at Health City at the HCG-Pinnacle Cancer Centre, which is the most advanced and comprehensive cancer care centre in the state.”

This is a joint venture with the well known Bengaluru-based HCG group. Pinnacle is getting ready to launch its multi-specialty hospital with around 70 beds at Health City in two months’ time. It was in 2006 that more than 100 acres of land adjacent to the Visakhapatnam Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) was divided into 28 plots to be allotted to private hospitals that would improve the medical and health sector in the north Andhra region.

But there was no activity at all until a few years ago. Then Mr Naidu recently set a deadline of June 2016 for grounding the projects or hinted at taking back the land allotted. Lack of quality health care was deterring many from choosing to work in Vizag, a factor that was also affecting new investment inflow into the region.