Health Minister Satyakumar Yadav on Wednesday said that Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda will inaugurate medical infrastructure facilities worth ₹600 crore in various government hospitals in Andhra Pradesh on May 14. These facilities include 24 criticalcare blocks in various government hospitals.

The 24 CCBs are part of 621 such blocks being set up across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission. Together, the CCBs in Andhra Pradesh will add 1,275 beds in the State’s public health system. While 22 hospitals will have 50-bed CCBs, one each will have 75 and 100 beds.

The blocks are coming up in 16 teaching hospitals (except Guntur), the district hospitals at Tenali, Anakapalli and Hindupur, and five area hospitals at Narasaraopeta, Palakonda, Rayachoti, Bhimavaram and Chirala. Each 50-bed CCB will have a 10-bed ICU, a six-bed mini-ICU, maternity, isolation and casualty wards, and beds for dialysis patients. The 50-bed CCBs are being built at ₹23.75 crore each, the 75-bed block at Narasaraopeta at ₹36.35 crore, and the 100-bed block at Tenali at ₹44.50 crore.

Speaking to officials and doctors during the inspection of the Government General Hospital (GGH) on Wednesday, Mr. Yadav said 46 Assistant and Associate Professors had been appointed in Rangaraya Medical College in Kakinada.

MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao and District Collector M.N. Harendhira Prasad said a ₹35 crore action plan had been prepared for the development of the GGH at Kakinada.

Mr. Yadav held a review meeting with doctors and administrative staff at the GGH, and inspected the wards. He spoke to patients about the medical care they were receiving, and reviewed the hospital’s sanitation, drinking water and bed availability. He directed officials to take immediate measures to ensure that neither the patients nor their attendants faced any difficulties.

Mr. Yadav later interacted with patients at the de-addiction centre in the GGH-Kakinada and with the nursing staff.