In order to develop a super specialty eye hospital in Patna, the Bihar government and Sankara Eye Foundation India (SEFI), a Coimbatore-based organization, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on December 13, 2024. Key political figures, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, and state ministers Mangal Pandey and Vijay Kumar Choudhary, were present at the ceremony where R.V. Ramani, the founder and managing trustee of SEFI, and Sanjay Kumar Singh, the state health secretary, formally signed the Memorandum of Understanding.
The planned hospital will be built on a 1.60-acre tract of land in Patna’s Kankarbagh neighborhood. The land for this project was allotted by the Bihar government, and the Bihar Housing Board handled the transfer process. A total of Rs 48 crore was set aside for the deal. With a symbolic token payment of Re 1, the site has been leased to SEFI for 99 years, demonstrating the government’s dedication to advancing healthcare infrastructure in the state.
It is anticipated that the super specialty eye hospital would be finished in a year and a half. The hospital will concentrate on offering patients cutting-edge eye care treatments, with a special focus on individuals from socioeconomically underprivileged backgrounds. It would provide free eye care to anyone with yearly incomes up to Rs 2.5 lakh, which is a significant step in improving access to healthcare for those with lower incomes. To guarantee greater access to high-quality eye treatment, the hospital will charge reasonable prices to patients in higher income levels.
The collaboration with SEFI includes training medical personnel in addition to patient care. To guarantee that the state’s medical workforce has the abilities and know-how to provide top-notch eye care services, SEFI will offer specialized training to staff at the current super specialty eye hospital in Rajendra Nagar, Patna.
This program is in line with the government of Bihar’s continuous endeavors to enhance the state’s healthcare infrastructure, especially with regard to specialized medical services. It is anticipated that the opening of the eye hospital will greatly improve Patna’s healthcare system by providing cutting-edge treatment options and enhancing the general health and wellbeing of the populace.
SOURCE :
THE PRINT
