Patna, May 31 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday laid the foundation stone for a state-of-the-art Tibbi College Hospital building within the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) campus in Patna City.

The ambitious project, estimated to cost around Rs 264 crore, will be developed over 10 acres of land behind the B.Sc. Nursing School and the State Pharmacy Institute.

State Health Minister Mangal Pandey and Bihar Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav were also present at the ceremony.

Ahead of the event, Health Department Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL) Managing Director Dharmendra Kumar visited the site to assess preparedness and issued key directives.

The hospital will be equipped with a 200-bed Unani hospital across five storeys, an academic block for 150 students, an air-conditioned auditorium with 500 seating capacity, a residential complex for the principal, superintendent, doctors, and staff, and hostel facilities for candidates.

The construction work will be completed by 2027, according to engineers from BMSICL.

Senior NMCH officials, including Principal Prof. Usha Kumari, Superintendent Prof. Rishm Prasad, and Deputy Superintendent Saroj Kumar, were present during the inauguration.

Currently, the Tibbi College Hospital operates from Kadamkuan. Its principal, Prof. Mahfoozur Rahman, expressed optimism that the new infrastructure will significantly enhance academic standards and healthcare delivery.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various projects worth Rs 48,500 crore during the Karakat rally.

The projects included a thermal power plant in Navinagar in Aurangabad, Varanasi-Gaya-Kolkata six-lane expressway, Patna-Gaya-Dobhi four-lane national highway and Bihta airport and many others.

PM Modi also spotlighted the growing focus on Bihar’s Makhana industry after the Centre allotted it a GI tag and how lakhs of farmers are benefitting from it.

He had inaugurated the newly constructed terminal building of Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna on Thursday.

–IANS

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