RANCHI: Ranchi may have another government-run-medical college cum hospital in the coming years. The state ministry of health, medical college and family welfare is mulling over the idea to convert the 500-bed super-specialty Ranchi Sadar hospital into a medical college and hospital.The ministry began toying with the idea recently after it received a note from the Ranchi University which suggested that the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) should get autonomy.Speaking to the TOI, additional chief secretary (health) Sudhir Kumar Tripathi said the suggestion is on the discussion table. "At present, the super-specialty facility is not being used to its maximum potential. The facility can accommodate 500 beds. If a government land within the vicinity can be used to house the academic buildings, the medical college cum hospital will be a reality."The Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines dictate that the distance between the hospital and academic wings of a medical college must not exceed 10 kilometres. According to sources, the health ministry plans to take over a portion of the current Ranchi University campus once its academic departments move to the new campus being constructed in Cheri village of Kanke block. "The Sadar hospital complex and the RU campus are separated by a distance of less than a kilometre which perfectly fits the scheme of things," an official said.The state government has been trying to build new medical colleges to end the crisis of doctors' shortage in the long run. New medical colleges have been announced in Dumka, Hazaribag, Koderma, Palamu and Bokaro in the past two years. At present, the three functional medical colleges in Ranchi, Jamshepur and Dhanbad have 350 under-graduate medical seats.The facility, which has been unused since 2012, was opened partially as a maternity hospital last summer after four failed attempts to run it in as a super-specialty hospital at affordable rates under PPP mode.Meanwhile, Ranchi civil surgeon Dr S S Harijan was directed by the state health mission director to prepare a detailed project report for setting up an intensive care unit. The maternity hospital has been functioning without an ICU from its inception.

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