Gangtok, Sept. 4: Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital (STNMH) will be upgraded on the lines of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

State health department officials told The Telegraph that consultations were on to convert the oldest hospital into a state-of-the-art centre, complete with latest medical facilities.

The hospital, built in 1937, has staff strength of more than 500 members. After the upgradation, the hospital will have 300 beds, instead of 500, as planned earlier. Officials said the estimate of the revamp had also been brought down to Rs 50 crore from Rs 110 crore.

However, once the construction begins the present staff will have to be shifted to a new location before they move into the five-storeyed building that will come up on the existing site. The department is yet to find a suitable place to shift the existing blocks.

The master plan for the project is being reworked by the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (I) Limited.

The consultancy group has held meetings with health minister D.D. Bhutia and department officials.

Principal director–cum-secretary health T.R. Gyatso told The Telegraph that the modernisation project was the “vision of chief minister Pawan Chamling, who has accorded priority to health services”.

The hospital, named after the Sikkim ruler, Chogyal Sir Thutob Namgyal, was set up to treat Kala-azar and malaria.

When asked if the construction of the new structure could be done without the demolition of the old structure, officials said it was not 100 years old to be accorded the status of a heritage building.

Without the demolition of the existing structure, it was not possible to set up the new building, officials said. The work would begin in a phase-wise demolition of the existing structure, officials said.

The construction is proposed on a 34, 816-square metre area. At present, the hospital houses seven blocks interconnected with a linking corridor and has 150 beds. The central block houses two operation theatres. Different blocks are also housed for emergency, pathology, administrative complex and a blood bank. There is also a trauma centre. The paediatric, gynaecology, out-patient department, intensive care unit and orthopedics are, however, not located in the building and lies across the road in different buildings.

Officials said it would take at least five years for the completion of the project. Till then, the hospital will have to function from some other place. Initially, officials had planned to shift it to the Manipal Central Referral Hospital at Tadong, but this ruled out due to logistic problems, sources said. Medical superintendent S.K. Pradhan told The Telegraph that the upgraded hospital, which would be completed in five years, would have additional units of neuro-surgery, urology, cardiology and laproscopy.