Belur Sramajibi Hospital will set up a medical college and a 500-bed multi-speciality hospital in Serampore, Hooghly, as part of its Rs 100-crore expansion programme.

The 80-bed hospital off GT Road in Belur will keep functioning even after the Serampore facility is ready.

“We will buy a 75-bigha plot in Serampore for the expansion, which will also include setting up of a school, old age home and a centre for terminally ill patients. The first phase will be completed by 2011,” said Anil Saha, the secretary of the Belur Sramajibi Swasthya Prakalpa Samity. The first phase of the hospital will have 200 beds and will cost Rs 10 crore.

The entire project, including the 50-seat medical college, will be ready in five years, said Saha. “The funds are being raised through donations. We are not approaching any corporate house, or even the state or central government, for the money,” said a hospital official.

The hospital authorities said 20 per cent of the beds in the new hospital would be free. “As for the other patients, the cost of treatment would be one-fourth of that of corporate hospitals,” said the official.

Students of the medical college — the authorities will soon apply for registration to the Medical Council of India — will be selected through the joint entrance examination. Bright but poor students won’t face any problem studying at the institute, the authorities said.

“Unlike in other private medical colleges, there will be no capitation fees here. There are a number of students who qualify the JEE but can’t study MBBS because of financial constraints. They will be given a chance to study here,” said oncologist Subir Ganguly, who is supporting the Sramajibi Hospital team.