PMCH to be made 5,462-bed world’s biggest hospital

PATNA: The state cabinet on Saturday approved a health department’s proposal to make Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) the world’s biggest hospital with 5,462-bed hospital. This was one of the 37 proposals approved by the cabinet.

Health and cabinet secretariat departments’ principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said it would take seven years to complete the project, but CM Nitish Kumar wants it to be completed before that. “We will try to complete it in five to six years,” he said and added the world’s biggest hospital today was of 3,500 beds in Belgrade.

The PMCH’s current capacity is 1,700 beds. The new PMCH premises will be spread over 72.44 lakh square foot area which will house “green buildings” having foolproof fire safety and medical gas pipeline provisions. It will also have a 450-bed dharmshala, separate power sub-station and facility for treatment of excreta and dirty water.

The new PMCH will have 250 MBBS seats against the existing 150, and 200 PG seats against the existing 146. The Rs 5,540- crore project will be executed by the Bihar Medical Infrastructure Structure Corporation Limited.

The hospital will have 29 wards, including general medicine (478 beds), general and paediatric surgery (522), orthopaedics (702), paediatrics (610), obstetrics and gynaecology (462) and ophthalmology (240) besides an ICU (217). Other major wards are gastroenterology (72), endocrinology (85), nephrology (75), neurology (75), cardiology (72), burns (30), urology (75), neurosurgery (72), plastic surgery (50), psychiatry (75) and organ transplant (55 beds).

The new hospital will be linked with the proposed double-decker flyover along Ashok Rajpath and upcoming Ganga Path. There will be parking facility for 3,435 vehicles.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to increase the daily allowance for 25,913 home guards from Rs 400 to Rs 774. It gave its nod to the creation of a disaster revolving fund of Rs 15.20 crore of which Rs 40 lakh each would be given to districts for payment of ex gratia to disaster victims.

The cabinet also approved the construction of a rice mill with private investment of Rs 38.89 crore by a Kolkata firm at Bishanpur village in Chakai block of Jamui district.

The cabinet sanctioned Rs 3,031.49 crore for the maintenance of 5,331.65km roads in south Bihar, besides Rs 3,623.27 crore for the maintenance of 7,731.61km roads in north Bihar.