It was first housed in Fort St George and moved to its present location after twenty-five years in 1772. It was beautifully renovated at a cost of Rs.1.04 billion, and reconstructed into a multi-storied building to accommodate the huge increase in patients in 2005. The new building has a basement, ground floor, and six new floors providing 65,000 square meters of floor space for the public and 3629 beds. It has six state of the art operation theaters. It has emergency theatres, a blood bank open 24 hours round the clock, a CT scan, an ultra-sound machine, and a trauma care centre. It is partially centrally air-conditioned. Each floor has closed circuit camera and a computerized monitoring facility.

There are about 1600 free beds in the new building. Some beds are only available on a small nominal payment. This hospital has treated 2.5 million out-patients so far, and has performed over 25000 minor and major surgeries.

It is the biggest state-run hospital in the country. A medical college Madras Medical College, one of the oldest medical schools in the country, is attached to the hospital.

The Government General Hospital or the GGH as it is known treats about 10000 out-patients every day free of cost. At least, three heart surgeries are performed daily free of cost to poor patients. Over Rs 120 Crores is spent annually on procuring medicines.

Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, Chennai

This hospital is more than 200 years and comprises of eight floors. The East India Company started it in 1740 to treat wounded British soldiers. This hospital is smaller than The GH and treats about 5000 out-patients per day. It has about 1600 beds. It has facilities to conduct 40 surgeries simultaneously. The hospital is renowned for three departments though the others are equally good. The departments of Surgical Gastroenterology, Urology and the Institute of Hand Rehabilitation and Plastic Surgery are considered excellent. The Institute for Research and Rehabilitation of Hand and the Department of Plastic Surgery (IRRH & DPS) is the best in South East Asia

The Department of Surgical Gastroenterology was the first to conduct a successful liver transplant in India. This department has also obtained the prestigious ISO certification, and is the first hospital department to do so in the country. The Department of Urology performs about fifty kidney transplants in a year. There is a medical college associated with this hospital called Stanley Medical College which is one of the top medical colleges of India.

Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai

The Rajaji Hospital at the temple city of Madurai is another old hospital established during the Madras Presidency in 1842. It is located in about 13 acres in the heart of Madurai. It has about 2200 beds and offers Specialty Treatment in Cardiology, Cardio- Thoracic Surgery, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and other fields.

Government Royapettah Hospital

Government Royapettah Hospital is not as old as the other hospitals. It was started in 1911. It was started in 1911 and as the name suggests is at Royapettah, Chennai. It has about 700 beds. All specialty treatments are available at the usual cheap government rates.

Kilpauk Medical College Hospital

Kilpauk Medical College Hospital is also situated at Kilpauk, Chennai .It has about 500 beds. The Centre of Excellence for Recanalisation is attached to the Kilpauk medical Hospital, and was started in 1989.The centre helps those women who have already undergone voluntary permanent contraception and who for some reason now want to reverse the process. This centre also caters to childless couples with problems like tubal block, endometriosis, and fibroids. The Kilpauk Medical College, a government medical college, is attached to this hospital.

Read on about CMC,Vellore