The hospitals on alert to tend to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in emergency are ill-equipped to handle exigencies.

The three state-run hospitals - Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology (IGIC) and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) - designated as emergency health service providers for Modi's visit to the city on Saturday lack proper healthcare facilities. Modern gizmos are still a mirage in the selected facilities.

The PMCH operating theatre being readied for Modi's visit has an old surgery table. A doctor of the surgery department of PMCH said: "The hospital administration has designated OT-2 in the Rajendra Surgical Block for the Prime Minister's visit but the surgery table inside cannot be adjusted in any direction. Besides, scissors and artery forceps (used to close arteries to prevent haemorrhage) are also very old. Even the harmonic scalpel (used to simultaneously cut and cauterise tissues) is not fit for use."

Another doctor of the hospital said the use of old instruments in surgeries increases the chances of infection.

Cut to IGIC. The cardiac care hospital's heart-lung machine does not functioning properly. The gizmo is required for cardiac surgeries.

An IGIC doctor, requesting anonymity, said the hospital had requested the health department several times to provide a new heart-lung machine, but in vain. "It is an irony that IGIC, which lacks this important machine, is one of the three designated hospitals for the Prime Minister's visit," said the doctor.

IGIMS is in the same boat. Like PMCH and IGIC, it does not have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine - an important diagnostic gizmo required to ascertain internal injuries.

The additional medical superintendent of IGIMS, Manish Mandal, admitted that the hospital lacked an MRI machine but said the health hub was ready to provide the best facilities available to the Prime Minister. "The protocol says we have to provide the best facility available with us. It does not say that we are bound to provide certain facilities," said Mandal.

He claimed the hospital had reserved a bed in its emergency wing and an intensive care unit was ready. "We have also arranged for five units of blood," added Mandal.

PMCH superintendent Lakhendra Prasad also claimed that his hospital had made the best possible arrangements for the Prime Minister.

Health experts said the state-run hospitals were ill-equipped to provide emergency medical care to the Prime Minister in case of any exigency.

"All of them have good doctors but lack necessary infrastructure. The state government should have taken help of private hospitals for keeping the emergency medical facilities ready during the Prime Minister's visit," said Dr Ajay Kumar, former general secretary of Bihar Health Services Association.