Bengaluru: In yet another initiative concerning health care, the State Government has decided a build a Hi-tech Hospital along the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway at Ramanagara, on the lines of New Delhi’s AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences).

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Higher Education Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan held a meeting in this regard with officials here on Wednesday.

During the course of the meeting, Bommai is said to have directed the officials to construct the Hospital on a 150-acre campus near Ramanagara.

The State Government has also planned to lay the foundation stone for this 1,000-bed prestigious ultra-modern hospital in the first week of March. The Hospital will be a treble bonanza for Ramanagara district as the 10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway that cuts down time of travel between Mysuru and Bengaluru by more than an hour, is also set to open for traffic by Dasara this year and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, which is currently functioning from Bengaluru, will also be moved to its original destination Ramanagara.

The total cost of the hi-tech hospital and the University campus is estimated at Rs. 2,300 crore. Though a 700-bed hospital is already coming up at Ramanagara, the setting up of an AIIMS type-hospital in the town will be of huge benefit to the people of surrounding districts and also to the residents of Bengaluru, as Ramanagara is located close to Bengaluru.