The hospital, which will officially be called the Songserm Sukkaparp Chaleam Prakiet Nawaminta Rachinee Hospital, will inevitably be known to most people as Chalong Hospital.
A committee chaired by Phuket Vice-GovernorSomkiet Sangkhaosuttirak agreed today that construction on the 11-rai site, almost opposite Homepro Village, will begin in 2014.
Objections from 74 local vendors who have been using the site for 20 years as a local market have been overridden.
Initially they asked to be allowed to use two rai of the site, but the Health Ministry decided that having a market next to the hospital might not be a healthy combination. The vendors are to be offered another site at the east end of Luang Pho Chaem Rd, a couple of kilometres to the north of the circle.
In any case, the family that owns the land – the Areerob family, of which local MP Reywat Areerob is a member – insist that it should be used as a hospital.
At this morning’s meeting Somjai Areerob, representing the family, said, “One of my family is Kao Areerob who was very clear in stating his goal of donating the land to the government for use as a hospital.”
He added that Mr Rewat and others had pushed hard for government funding and had finally received approval in principal at the Mobile Cabinet meeting in March this year for spending of B340 million.
He told the meeting that the funding would not be required all at once. “The initial budget is B186 million for 150 beds and four buildings. The rest of the budget will be for medical equipment to be installed after construction is complete,” he explained.