The Calcutta Municipal Corporation will build two hospitals to treat patients suffering from vector-borne diseases like dengue, mayor Firhad Hakim said.

Hakim said on Tuesday the two hospitals would serve as primary health-care centres to treat patients suffering from infectious diseases such as flu, diarrhoea and dengue. The hospitals to be built at Chetla and Kidderpore will have indoor wards.

“The hospitals will provide primary treatment. All patients now go to government hospitals,” he said, adding the move would help reduce load on government hospitals. If patients turns critical, they will be referred to government hospitals.

“Many patients in and around Calcutta often reach hospitals when the condition becomes critical, particularly in the case of dengue. This can be prevented by basic monitoring of the parameters of these patients. “If their conditions deteriorate they can be referred to a bigger hospital,” said a CMC official.

“Diseases such as flu, diarrhoea and dengue can be treated in the CMC hospitals,” added Hakim.

A CMC official said the two hospitals would be set up in wards 82 (Chetla) and 79 (Kidderpore). The corporation is constructing buildings to house the hospitals.

The ground floors will have the ward health units, while the hospitals will be set up in the upper floors, he said.

Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, who heads CMC’s health department, said the construction of the buildings had begun. “We will soon prepare detailed project reports for the two hospitals,” he said.

Both hospitals will be built using state government and CMC funds, said officials. “The authorities want the hospital in Chetla to get operational from March. The building at Kidderpore will take some time to complete,” said one official.

Hakim said Dum Dum and Rishra municipalities run hospitals. “Our hospital will be on similar lines,” he said.