Mirik to get 100-bed hospital

TT, Siliguri: The health department has decided to upgrade block primary health centre in Mirik to a 100-bed subdivisional hospital with additional services.

"As of now, there is a block health centre in Mirik. It will be upgraded to a subdivisional hospital soon and will have 100 beds. The state public works department is working on the building plan and drawing up an estimate for the new infrastructure," said Pralay Acharya, the chief medical officer of health (CMOH) of Darjeeling district.

According to him, along with more beds, there will be a blood bank, separate medical and surgical wards for male and female patients, a separate paediatric unit with facilities like Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU). "There will also be a high dependency unit for babies having an accommodation of six beds," he said.

Located around 50km from here, Mirik was a block headquarters under Kurseong subdivision of Darjeeling district. On March 30, 2017, the state had declared it as a separate subdivision.

It is also the only town in the hills where Trinamul rules the civic body. After announcing it as a sub-division and after Mamata Banerjee's party managed to secure majority in the civic polls held last year, the state has been focussing on infrastructure development of Mirik.

"Funds have been allotted for improvement of infrastructure in the town and the work is in progress. Now, the state government seems to have taken into consideration another longstanding demand of Mirik residents, that is, development of healthcare facilities and has hence planned to upgrade the block health centre into a sub-divisional hospital. All these indicate that Trinamul is playing the development card to consolidate its support base in and around the town," said an observer.

As of now, there are 30 beds at the health centre, with four doctors and 14 paramedical staff. It is a single-storied building that is over an area of one acre..