Frederick Adams. The governor then promulgated an ordinance to make the school a state-sponsored one and attached it to the General Hospital. In 1842, the H-shaped main building was constructed, and the hospital was opened to Indians. Simultaneously, the medical school was upgraded into Madras Medical College and started functioning from 1850. Between 1928 and 1938, the hospital was expanded to a great extent owing to the growing number of patients. A. L. Mudaliar was appointed as the first Indian principal of Madras Medical College. Since 1935, with the creations of various departments, new buildings were constructed and the Public Works Department started maintaining the hospital. By the end of the 20th century, the government decided to demolish the old building and replace it with two tower blocks at a cost of 1,050 million. On 10 July 1987, the first ever transplant surgery in the hospital was done. The first successful cadaver renal transplantation was performed at the hospital in January 1996. In April 2007, the government decided to open pay-and-use wards with 200 beds and own nurses, to be maintained by the Tamil Nadu Medical Commission, at the hospital. In March 2013, a new kidney dialysis centre with 12 machines was commissioned at the hospital at a cost of 10 million. Infrastructure As the city of Chennai falls under seismic zone III, the structure is designed to be quake-resistant. A framed structure with pile foundation is used in the superstructures. The tower blocks are constructed with structural glazing, aluminium composite panel cladding and Novakote finish. The total plinth area of Tower Block I is 31,559 square metres and Tower Block II is 33,304 square metres. The ground level is raised up to 1.40 metres (4'7") to avoid water stagnation and to allow gravity flow of rainwater. Each tower block has three staircases and eight lifts and the building has a ramp with access to all floors. A separate fire-escape staircase and garbage disposal lift are found at the rear side of the building. Construction of an eight-storey block to house 23 outpatient departments began in August 2016 at a cost of 1014.5 million. It will add to the hospital an additional 432,000 square feet when it is opened in July 2019. The new block will have four bed-cum-passenger elevators and four passenger elevators. The building has a 1,000 KVA generator with automatic main failure panel. An air-conditioning plant caters