Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences to be a 2,500-bed hospital: Nitish Kumar

Patna: Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar while speaking at the 4^th convocation ceremony of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) said that 2,500 beds were required to meet the increasing bed load of patients at the IGIMS.

He was responding to Hospital, Director, N.R. Biswas’s request for increasing bed capacity at the hospital from 500 to 1,000. "IGIMS should be competing with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences while the other medical colleges have to be made at par with IGIMS," reported TOI

"We're going to develop Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) as centers of excellence," the Chief Minister added.

The CM told the college administration to quicken the pace of work so as have the liver transplant facilities functional at the earliest. “The government medical college in Madhepura is nearly complete. It will start taking admissions after its inspection by the Medical Council of India probably by the end of March,” Nitish said.

He also announced the state government’s willingness to increase the number of MBBS seats at IGIMS from 100 to 250.The Chief Minister on the occasion also inaugurated a medical intensive care unit with a 15-bed capacity.

The state government has decided to take up the construction of the medical college of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) at Bihta. The building construction which had started in 2011, was later transferred to the state government in 2015. Deputy CM, Sushil Kumar Modi who also spoke on the occasion said 90% of construction work had already been completed.

Nitish, while speaking on the college's convocation day tried to reign in something new in terms of the convocation dress. He jovially remarked that the convocation gown and caps dated back to the British days and suggested that the institute’s administration change the dress code for convocation in accordance with Indian culture and tradition. "Should I remove the cap," he threw at the audience;when most replied in the affirmative, he removed the traditional convocation cap saying he always feared it toppling off, drawing mirth from those present, reported the Telegraph.

Awards-Gold medals

The Chief Minister after the address gave away gold medals to the Institute’s toppers in various disciplines.

The Sri P.P. Sinha-Dr Uday Kumar Gold Medal for topping in biochemistry 1st professional exam went to Suman, and the Shri Leo Xess-Dr Anima Raghwendra Gold Medal for topping in Pharmacology went to Shivani.

Dr. Birkeshwar Prasad Singh Gold Medal & Certificate topper of Ophthalmology went to Riya Anand.

Super-speciality degrees were also awarded to students on this occasion. The Master of Chirurgical (M.Ch) Urology Degree went to Anshul Garg and Pankaj Kumar Gupta.; Amitesh Kumar and Madhur Choudhary received the Doctorate of Medicine (DM) Gastroenterology; Manoj Kumar received a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Biochemistry.

Among other toppers were Ghulam Arshad, Anjali, Komal Bharti, Shahnila Qasim, Suman, Nimisha Bajaj, Pragati Raj, Prateek Kumar, Prity Kumari and Swati Suman.

PG pass-out Dr Soma Bhattacharya was awarded Shri Rameshwar Paswan-Dr K H Raghvendra Gold Medal in MD (anaesthesiology).

The toppers in paramedical courses included Soni Kumari, Neeti Shikha, Priyanka Singh, Pushpanjali, Puja Gupta,Bandana Jyoti, Kunar Anand, Shubham Raj, Sanila Shree, Bhola Kumar, Pranav Kumar and Md Nadeem.