The ‘Smart Hospitals’ initiative of the Madurai Corporation will
facilitate delivery of quality healthcare at its hospitals at affordable
cost, said Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar on Monday.

The Commissioner told
The Hindu
he would strive to focus on hospitals falling under the ‘area-based development’ zone of the Smart City Mission.

There are currently three hospitals that have been shortlisted for the first phase of smart healthcare delivery.

They
are primary health centres and maternity homes located in Baskaradas
Nagar, East Veli Street and South Gate. The smart hospital project is
set to improve the hospital capacity tracking facility, emergency
management, fire detection and tele-health, according to an official of
the health department of the corporation.

“Smart hospital aims at
improving the user experience and providing infrastructure that matches
or beats the private healthcare providers. Waiting areas will be cleaner
and inpatient facilities will improve. Special attention will be given
to the needs of staff and paramedics too,” said the Commissioner.

“Though
the project does not immediately set out to increase the number of
hospital beds, it looks to revamp the existing infrastructure. The
initiative is currently in the ‘detailed project report’ stage and cost
estimates will be available to the public after the reports are
approved,” said Dr. Sekhar.

A total of Rs. 334 crore of Madurai’s
Smart City Mission fund has gone into heritage conservation and open
spaces enhancement. About Rs. 300 crore has been pumped into improving
basic infrastructure such as water, sewage and roads.

This initiative would encourage citizens to approach government organisations for healthcare, said the Commissioner.