RG Kar Medical College and Hospital will be upgraded within a year, with the setting up of a trauma centre, an oncology unit and a nursing college, state finance minister Asim Dasgupta said on Monday.

Dasgupta, also president of the hospital’s governing body, said Rs 11.9 crore has been sanctioned for building the nursing college, an auditorium, a lecture hall and an administrative block.

“More facilities will come up within a year,” he said, referring to the trauma centre (which will be the first in a state-run hospital in Bengal) and the oncology unit. He was speaking at the inauguration of seven facilities at the hospital, in the presence of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Among the facilities unveiled are an outpatients’ building, resident medical officers’ quarters, an underground reservoir, a mortuary, a dialysis unit and a gastroenterology unit.

Explaining the need for a trauma centre, Dasgupta said: “When a number of accident victims in need of immediate attention are admitted to the hospital, doctors find it difficult to attend to other patients. The dedicated trauma centre will help solve the problem.”

Officials said an ideal trauma centre must comprise neuro, cardio-thoracic, plastic, general and orthopaedic surgery units. There must also be operating theatres with a state-of-the-art intensive therapy unit and recovery units.

“The minister has asked for a proposal for the trauma centre, with details of cost and manpower and infrastructure requirements,” a hospital official said. MRI facilities, the minister said, will be introduced by March 31.

The hospital is also planning to set up a guest house for patients’ relatives coming from the districts. “The relatives now have to spend the night in the open,” Dasgupta said.

During the day, the chief minister laid the foundation stone for the platinum jubilee building of the hospital.