Children in rural areas suffering from fatal diseases would no longer have to wait for better medical facilities in the city if AIIMS-Patna’s plans of starting a mobile hospital is successful.

AIIMS-Patna has asked the Union ministry of health and family welfare to provide funds for the mobile hospital.

The health hub director, Dr G.K. Singh, who conceptualised the idea, said he put the proposal before Union health minister Harsh Vardhan during his visit to AIIMS-Patna last Saturday. Sources said if the health hub gets the nod, this would be the first-of-its-kind-initiative by any AIIMS.

Talking about his plan for the mobile hospital, Dr Singh said: “It would be equipped with 30 beds apart from an intensive care unit (ICU) and a pathological laboratory. In foreign countries, these kinds of mobile hospitals have proved efficient in dealing with emergency cases.”

He added: “In Bihar, the need of a mobile hospital is more because of the prevalence of diseases like suspected acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). Many children are losing their lives because of AES in the hinterlands. If AIIMS-Patna has a mobile hospital, it would be able to treat children even in the rural parts where there are no proper healthcare facilities.”

Singh said he asked the health minister to provide around Rs 10 crore to start the facility.

He said: “If AIIMS-Patna becomes successful in its endeavour to start a mobile hospital, it would be a big achievement. We want to chart our own path. We don’t want to copy AIIMS-Delhi or any other institution in the world. We want to make AIIMS-Patna the best place for healthcare and we would strive for this. Harsh Vardhan, during his visit here, conveyed to us that he wanted AIIMS-Patna to be developed as the best health institution in the country. The health ministry and we have the same goal in mind.”

AIIMS-Patna has already taken up many unique initiatives since its inception. It developed a mobile application, Sankat Sanket, last year to help people in need of medical assistance. Shishir Jain, the founder of the Noida-based software company, Netcellence Technologies, developed the application to help people get access to ambulance service with a touch on the cellphone screen. One needs to visit AIIMS-Patna’s website www.aiimspatna.org to download the application.

It can be downloaded on any smartphone.