Visakhapatnam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday virtually set the foundation stone for a 30-bed ESI Hospital in Atchutapuram, Anakapalli. The hospital, being built at a cost of Rs 69 crore, will be ready by 2027.
The prime minister, on the day, inaugurated and laid foundation stones of multiple healthcare projects across the country worth over Rs 12,850 crore, from a live event in New Delhi.
State labour minister Vasamsetti Subhash, Yelamanchili MLA Sundarapu Vijay Kumar and Anakapalli collector Vijaya Krishna attended the opening.
Subhash said the hospital was sanctioned in 2022 but the previous government neglected the project.
"Recently an accident took place in Atchutapuram SEZ in which 15 industrial workers were killed. The death toll would have been less had the previous government completed the hospital," Subhash said, adding that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wanted the hospital to come up in Atchutapuram.
District collector Vijaya Krishna said the hospital would be built on two acres, close to the special economic zone. She said there were about 600 industrial units in a 25-km radius there.
"There are over 37,000 workers in the hospital's vicinity and they are insured under the State Employees Insurance Scheme. The total beneficiaries include the family members, totalling around 1.4 lakh people," she said.
Yelamanchili MLA Sundaraou Vijay Kumar said the hospital would provide secondary care services in medicine, surgery, orthopedics, gynecology, paediatrics and anaesthesia.
