Patna: If all goes well, work on the super-speciality centre coming up at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) will start after January 15.

The seven storey Rs 180 crore centre is being built by the central government. "Work is in progress," PMCH acting principal A. Alam said. "Land has been identified. The centre will be built on a 1-acre plot where dilapidated former quarters of old employees exist."

He said a list of equipments required for the super-speciality centre has been sent to the Union health ministry and it is learnt that the Centre has initiated the process of buying those. While Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned for construction of buildings, Rs 80 crore will be spent on buying equipment for the centre, Alam said.

"The super-specialty centre will have facilities for kidney, heart and neuro-surgery, nephrology, plastic surgery and radiotherapy among others," the PMCH acting principal said. "A state-of-the-art cardiac catheterisation laboratory is also planned. This laboratory would have the facilities to conduct coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty and pacemaker implantations."

The Union ministry of health and family welfare has sanctioned Rs 180 crore each to help improve infrastructure at PMCH, Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital, Gaya and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur.

The ministry is providing monetary assistance to state-based colleges under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) under which necessary infrastructure has to be created for new super-speciality departments in all these hospitals.

PMSSY aims at correcting the imbalances in availability of affordable healthcare facilities in different parts of the country in general, and augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the under-served states in particular. The scheme was approved in March 2006. PMSSY has two components - setting up six institutions on the lines of AIIMS and up gradation of 13 existing government medical college institutions.

Bettiah Medical College and Hospital principal Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, who was earlier posted at PMCH, said: "Lack of super-speciality department and inadequate infrastructure at the existing super-speciality departments in PMCH compels doctors to refer their patients to private hospitals. We hope with the coming up of this new centre medical care facility for residents will get a much needed boost."