Patna: Deputy chief minister Sushil Modi inaugurated an eye bank and a new emergency block with a 100-bed (40 bed intensive care unit and 60 beds in emergency) capacity at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Monday.
The total number of beds in PMCH's emergency stands at 200. Altogether, Rs 10.49 crore was spent on creation of the new emergency block.
Modi laid the foundation stone of a kidney transplant unit which is set to be completed at a cost of Rs 12.66 crore in the next nine months and a 21-bed burn ward (project costs Rs 5.29 crore and aimed to be functional within the next nine months) and a 12-bed ICU that would come up at the emergency building of the hospital at a cost of Rs 1.21 crore and six months has been kept as its completion target.
The first corneal transplant surgery of PMCH was also performed with the assistance of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) doctors' team. Dr Mamta of PMCH's ophthalmology department performed the surgery on 65-year-old Banarasi Das from East Champaran under the leadership of Dr Shekhar Choudhary (IGIMS), the IGIMS head of ophthalmology department, Dr Bibhuti Prasad Sinha, and senior ophthalmologic surgeon Dr Nilesh Mohan.
Modi said Bihar was a little late in starting transplant surgeries than other states but it would soon surpass them. He asked principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, to take steps for establishing skin and bone bank to help those who suffered burn injuries.
Principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, said eye banks would be opened in all medical college hospitals by October 2 and that the process of hiring manpower and setting up infrastructure has been started. He said the health department will conduct a survey on what facilities needed to be upgraded in the emergency wing of all other medical college hospitals. He said vacant posts of teachers would be filled up in government medical colleges and the process of promotion of teachers in government colleges is likely to be completed within the next six weeks.
Health minister Mangal Pandey said 11 new government medical colleges would be opened in the state. Principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, said essentiality certificate has been given to two private medical colleges for starting operations.
The paramedics on contract of PMCH staged a protest during the event alleging that there was a merit scam in the recruitment of paramedics in PMCH and that senior administrative officials of the hospital were involved. Health minister Mangal Pandey who met the paramedics' delegation asked them to meet him on August 16.
Some of the protesters also threatened to immolate themselves.
