Super specialty depts in 3 Bihar medical colleges by 2019

PMCH, ANMMCH, JLNMCH are the three among nine government medical colleges in Bihar shortlisted to commence super specialty courses.

The Centre and the state have finalised 21 super specialty departments in three of the nine government-run medical colleges of Bihar that will become operational from 2019. 

Each of the three medical colleges will get Rs 200 crore for commencing super specialty courses.(Santosh Kumar / HT file photo)

The Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), Patna, Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College (ANMMCH), Gaya, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital (JLNMCH), Bhagalpur, have been shortlisted for the purpose. Each of these medical colleges will get Rs 200 crore, of which the Centre will fund 60% (Rs 120 crore) and the state government remaining 40% (Rs 80 crore). 

The PMCH, ANMMCH and the JLNMCH will host seven departments each. Super specialisation departments in kidney and brain will be common to all the three medical colleges. Super specialisation in heart will be common to the ANMMCH and the JLNMCH, while neonatology (treatment of newborns) will be common to the PMCH and the ANMMCH. The departments were finalised during a gap analysis meeting, convened by the ministry of health and family welfare (MoH&FW), in New Delhi on March 10. 

As part of the project, the Centre will construct building to house these departments and provide state-of-the-art equipment. The state government has to provide space and ensure paramedical and faculty manpower. Each of these departments will have 20 beds. 

Officer-on-special duty in the department of health, Dr Ranjit Kumar, who represented the state government at the meeting, told HT, “The central government has to do the physical work, while we have to provide manpower support and space.” 

The Centre has sought the state government’s consent for partial funding of the project, besides allotting space and dedicating manpower, before it commences work, with floating of tender for construction, in April. The deadline for completing the project is December 2018. 

Commencement of super specialty departments will allow the medical colleges to apply for two seats of DM (doctor of medicine) or M.Ch (Magister Chirurgiae, which is master of surgery degree), as the case may be depending on the discipline. Medical regulator, the Medical Council of India, prescribes a minimum of 20 in-patient beds, besides minimum faculty strength of a professor and an associate professor each, and two assistant professors in any department for super specialty courses, with an annual intake of two medicos. 

The committee for gap analysis is chaired by MoH&FW joint secretary Sunil Sharma, while its director Sudeep Shrivastava and AIIMS-Patna director Dr PK Singh are co-chairmen.