Chief minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone on Monday to redevelop the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) into a 2,100-bed hospital and a college having an intake of 250 MBBS students per year at a cost of Rs 2,742 crore.

He also inaugurated a 400-bed surgical block on the DMCH premises and a “Didi ki rasoi” run by Jeevika Didis under the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project.

“We must ensure that waterlogging doesn’t occur here even during the rainy season while constructing the new facilities. The drainage system should be improved. The foundation stone for the 2,100-bed hospital and the Maharani Rameshwari Indian Medical Science Institute have been laid and the construction work should be promptly started,” Nitish told the officials.

The chief minister asserted that he would visit again when the construction work of the medical college and hospital would start.

Talking to reporters after laying the foundation stone, Nitish pointed out that the construction of the 2,100-bed facility will take the total number of beds at the DMCH to 2,500, helping in the treatment of people and also better education at the medical college.

“We first wanted to have the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at the DMCH campus. The Centre had agreed to it, but it could not be built due to some reasons. It will now be constructed at Shobhan in Darbhanga district,” he said.

The erstwhile Maharaja of Darbhanga — Rameshwar Singh — established a “Temple of Medical Learning” in Patna in around 1924-25 as an institute for modern medical education. It was shifted to Darbhanga.