Patna, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday conducted an on-site inspection of the ongoing redevelopment of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), a project that will elevate the 100-year-old institution to the country’s largest hospital by bed capacity upon completion.
Once finished, the redeveloped PMCH will boast 5,462 beds – surpassing the current leader, Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (approximately 3,900 beds) – and will incorporate advanced infrastructure including a dedicated rooftop helipad for air-ambulance landings, modular operating theatres, expanded intensive care units, and centralised medical gas pipelines.
During the visit, Mr Kumar reviewed emergency services, medicine, dentistry, obstetrics and gynaecology departments, and ascended to the top floor to assess progress on the air-ambulance landing zone. In a subsequent post on X (formerly Twitter), the chief minister stated: “After the completion of redevelopment work, PMCH will become the country’s largest hospital with 5,462 beds and multiple modern facilities, enabling better healthcare services for the people of Bihar so that they do not have to travel outside the state for treatment.”
The multi-phase redevelopment, funded largely by the state government, is part of a broader push to upgrade tertiary healthcare infrastructure in Bihar, a state that continues to grapple with some of the lowest per-capita health spending and doctor-to-patient ratios in India.
Separately, in the political aftermath of the 2025 Bihar assembly elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has intensified an internal inquiry into alleged sabotage by party insiders. According to senior sources, more than 300 names of suspected “turncoats” who worked against official RJD candidates have already been submitted during divisional review meetings held over the past three days. Additional lists from remaining divisions are still awaited, and disciplinary action against those found guilty is expected.
The opposition Mahagathbandhan, led by the RJD, is also scheduled to finalise its legislative strategy ahead of the winter session of the Bihar assembly commencing on 1 December, the first under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s new term.
