Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) will establish a dedicated Spine Sub-Specialty Unit under its department of orthopaedics, creating a separate facility for patients requiring complex spinal treatment and surgery. The unit is expected to become functional by the end of October and will be headed by associate professor Dr Mahesh Prasad.
The health department issued a notification on Thursday for the creation of the unit, following the Bihar cabinet’s approval in May for 39 new posts at PMCH. The new facility will operate as an independent sub-speciality unit within the orthopaedics department, rather than handling spinal cases only as part of routine orthopaedic services.
Dr Prasad, who has been nominated as the unit’s in-charge, said the facility would strengthen specialised spine care at the state’s premier government hospital. He described it as the first facility of its kind in Bihar and said it was expected to benefit patients with different spine-related conditions.
The unit’s immediate requirements include a separate operation theatre, specialised equipment and other tools needed for spinal procedures. Dr Prasad said the team would soon submit its requirements to the health department and that the facility was expected to be inaugurated this month.
The creation of a dedicated team is intended to allow PMCH to manage complicated spinal cases through focused expertise and infrastructure. The hospital has not yet publicly specified the unit’s full equipment list, staffing pattern, treatment capacity or the number of procedures it will undertake after becoming operational.
The announcement comes as PMCH continues to expand specialised public healthcare services. The hospital was also the venue for the launch on Friday of a campaign for the surgical treatment of children with cleft lip, cleft palate and tongue-tie under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
The campaign is being conducted at 12 medical institutions across Bihar. On its first day, five children underwent surgery at PMCH, including two cleft palate procedures, two cleft lip procedures and one tongue-tie operation, according to PMCH superintendent Dr Rajiva Kumar.
The spine unit and the children’s surgical campaign represent separate initiatives, but both are being implemented through the state’s public medical institutions. For patients requiring complex spinal care, the operational details of the new unit—including its theatre, equipment and staffing—will determine when the planned service can begin accepting cases.
PMCH is expected to submit the spine unit’s infrastructure and equipment requirements to the health department before its planned inauguration by the end of the month.