SSKM Hospital, which will house a one-stop centre for ailments of the liver, pancreas and GI tract. A Telegraph picture

Two premier, state-run healthcare institutions in the city — SSKM Hospital and Bangur Institute of Neurology — will soon add on a speciality department each.

First up, an eight-bed ICCU at Bangur Institute to cater to patients with neurological disorders, including brain tumour and stroke.

Last Friday, the health department had released Rs 29 lakh as the first step towards setting up the state-of-the-art ICCU on the first floor of the old building at the institute.

In addition to the eight beds, one bed will be reserved for epileptic patients. Another Rs 31 lakh will be released in the next few months to ensure that the ICCU is ready this year. Once complete, it will be the first ICCU of its kind in state-run hospitals in the city after four decades, an official said.

“With the change in lifestyle, particularly among the affluent, such an ICCU has become a must,” explained director of the institute Trishit Roy. “It will help us deal effectively with critical cases in need of complicated surgical intervention. Once it is ready, we would also like to carry out surgeries to correct epileptic disorders.”

The other add-on the state health department has planned is the School of Digestive and Hepato-Biliary Sciences at SSKM Hospital. To come up across three floors in the new building of the hospital, the school will be a “one-stop” centre for ailments related to the liver, pancreas and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

“The school will have freedom to carry out research. The idea is to deliver quality service, comparable to the best in the health industry,” said Abhijit Chaudhury, head of the department of gastroenterology at SSKM Hospital.

According to the plan, a six-bed ICCU will be set up at a cost of Rs 1 crore on the second floor of the building, to cater to patients with liver diseases. The other floors will house departments for medical and surgical hepatology and for GI tract disorders.

“We have decided to recruit researchers through the Public Service Commission and the response has been overwhelming,” said a senior health department official. “The proposal, along with the estimated expenditure, has been forwarded to the finance department and the clearance is just a matter of weeks away.”

The chief minister is scheduled to inaugurate the school early next year.

“We are looking at a holistic view to offer the best of speciality healthcare. Accordingly, it has been decided that the ICCU of the cardiology department at SSKM will be upgraded to 30 beds. At BC Roy Memorial Hospital for Children, we have cleared the decks for offering pipeline oxygen to neo-natals,” said Jayshree Mitra, director of medical education.