Long road to emergency care: Chennai resettlement colonies need a tertiary hospital

CHENNAI: Every minute matters when a life hangs in the balance. For residents of Chennai's southern resettlement colonies, that minute is often lost on a long, traffic-choked road. A journey to the nearest tertiary care hospital can stretch over an hour, covering nearly 20 kilometres from areas like Kannagi Nagar, Semmencheri, and Perumbakkam.

These colonies, home to families relocated from the city's core over the past two decades, were built on the urban periphery. But the promise of a new home came without a matching investment in critical healthcare infrastructure. Today, the lack of a government tertiary hospital in the region is a matter of life and death.

The emergency gap

For a stroke patient, the golden hour is the first 60 minutes. For a heart attack, it is even shorter. Residents of these colonies must travel to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital or the Stanley Medical College Hospital, both located in the northern part of the city. The distance is not just a number on a map.

"If someone has a seizure in the middle of the night, we have to arrange a vehicle, wait for the patient to stabilise, and then drive through city traffic," said a community health worker from Kannagi Nagar. "By the time we reach the hospital, the patient is often in a worse state." Ambulance response times are inconsistent, and private ambulance services can be expensive for a population that largely depends on daily wage labour.

Over 5 lakh residents, one overburdened facility

The area's primary health centres (PHCs) handle routine ailments and immunisations, but they are not equipped for emergencies. The nearest government hospital with a casualty ward is the Chromepet Government Hospital, but it lacks specialist care for neurology, cardiology, or trauma. A 2025 survey by the Tamil Nadu Health Department noted that the southern resettlement corridor houses over 5 lakh people, a number that has grown with new housing projects.

Local activists have been demanding a 200-bedded tertiary hospital for the region since 2022. "We have been told that land has been identified near Medavakkam, but there is no timeline for construction," said M. Rajendran, a resident of Perumbakkam. "Meanwhile, people are losing precious time." The Chennai Corporation has acknowledged the demand in its budget proposals, but actual work has not started.

Traffic and distance compound the crisis

The road to the city's main hospitals passes through some of Chennai's most congested stretches. The Old Mahabalipuram Road, the primary artery connecting these colonies to the city, is notorious for bottlenecks during peak hours. Even an emergency vehicle struggles to navigate the traffic.

"We lose at least 20 minutes just crossing the Medavakkam junction," said a driver who regularly ferries patients to the city. "For a patient with internal bleeding, that is too long." The absence of a dedicated emergency lane or a bypass adds to the risk. Residents have also reported cases where women in labour had to deliver in autorickshaws on the way to the hospital.

Health officials point to the upcoming multi-speciality hospital at Tambaram, but that is still years away. The southern resettlement colonies, meanwhile, continue to grow. New housing board tenements are being built in places like Mullai Nagar, adding more families to the list of those who live far from emergency care.

What happens next depends on the state government's budget allocation for the next financial year. The demand for a tertiary hospital in the southern periphery is not new, but with each passing month, the risk for residents only grows. Officials have not yet confirmed a timeline for the project, leaving thousands to continue the long, risky road to emergency care.