Chandrababu Naidu hopes Amaravati will become global medical hub

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid foundation stone for Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute at Tulluru in Amaravati on Thursday.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the 14 mega corporate hospitals and 14 medical colleges would start their operations in Amaravati soon and hoped that the capital city would be the biggest medical hub in the world.

He recalled that his mother-in-law and wife of former Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao Basavatarakam died due to cancer. He said that NT Rama Rao decided to extend help to cancer patients after the bad experience in his life.

He said that the Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute was established with 120 beds in Hyderabad to serve people and lakhs of people have been getting services through the hospital. 

Now the institute made plans to construct cancer hospital in Amaravati with an aim to provide similar facilities to people of state and also country, he said. The Chief Minister congratulated his wife Bhuvaneswari, brother-in-law MLA N Balakrishna and other family members of NTR for running hospital with service motive.

He suggested that the cancer patients to live with courage by getting medical treatment. Overcoming cancer is real tributes to late NT Rama Rao, he said while asking the hospital management to focus on research operations.  

Stating that his family members started the hospital in memory of his mother, Balakrishna said that the facility stood at top seventh position in the country in cancer treatment. The new hospital in Amaravati would be constructed in three stages with 1000-bed capacity in 15 acre site. The first phase hospital would be constructed at a cost of Rs 300 crore with 300 beds, he said.

Balakrishna and his wife Vasundhara performed puja on the occasion. Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, noted cancer specialist Dr Nori Dattatreya, hospital Trust member Polavarapu Sunitha, ministers Prathipati Pulla Rao, N Ananda Babu, M Farooq, MLA T Sravan Kumar and officials were present.