SEPTEMBER 22 will remain a red-letter day for the people of Bihar. On this day, the state got two major gifts as regards health care infrastructure. The first one is a weapon against cancer. That is, a state-of-the-art cancer hospital, constructed by L&T’s Buildings & Factories (B&F) vertical, at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) in Patna.
The new facility was inaugurated in a virtual ceremony by Chief Minister Mr Nitish Kumar on 22 September in the presence of Deputy CM Mr Sushil Kumar Modi and health minister Mr Mangal Pandey. Mr Pratyaya Amrit, IAS, principal secretary - health and family welfare, and Dr N R Biswas, director- IGIMS, were present for the virtual ceremony. At the physical site were L&T Cluster Project Manager, Mr M Arunagiri, and Project Manager, Mr Subrata Chakraborty.
The cancer hospital is a 120-bed facility and is the first-of-its-kind in Bihar. L&T’s project scope included construction of the G+3 building with a built-up area of 1 lakh sq ft along with supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of various medical equipment. The civil works included construction of two bunkers with concrete wall and slab up to 2500 mm thickness for radiation-proof chambers as per the guidelines of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. The equipment comprise two linear accelerators, a brachytherapy unit, a CT simulator, PET-CT, MRI and Cyclotron.
On the same day, Bettiah, the district headquarters of West Champaran district, saw the inauguration of the state-of-the-art building of the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH). Again, built by L&T’s B&F vertical, it too was inaugurated by the CM virtually. The Principal & Superintendent of the GMCH, L&T Cluster Project Manager Mr Arunagiri, and Project Manager Mr Ashok Kumar, were at the site.
The GMCH building, an integral part of the 500-bed government hospital-cum-medical college, has six floors of 250,285 sq ft built-up area. It has an annual capacity for 100 MBBS students. L&T completed the composite work – comprising civil, finishing, steel structure, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) – in just 24 months.
These two new health facilities will go a long way in reducing the dependency of the people of Bihar on Mumbai and Kolkata for medical treatment.
