Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) students would soon be able to hone their skills using videoconferencing facilities.

The health hub has entered into an agreement with National Informatics Centre (NIC), under which five key wings would be equipped with high-speed Internet and video conferencing services.

The doctors, too, would be able to interact with national and international hospitals.

NIC, which functions under the Union ministry of information technology, is providing the facility free of cost under the National Knowledge Network programme.

Neeraj Kumar Sinha, the technical director, NIC, Bihar, said: “The facility will start within the next 15 days.”

The centre would provide the institute with speed of 1gbps (gigabytes per second) and routing equipment.

“In Patna, Indian Institute of Technology has been making the best use of the services. We hope the PMCH administration chalks out ways to ensure medicos attend virtual lectures,” Sinha said.

PMCH principal Dr N.P. Yadav said: “Connectivity will be provided to the principal’s office, the microbiology and lecture theatre and two other departments.”