North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) will soon house a rural health research section for the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), a Calcutta-based organisation that reports to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The oldest and largest state-run referral hospital in this area is NBMCH, which is situated in Sushrutanagar, a neighbourhood outside of Siliguri.
“The state government had approached the ICMR a number of times to set up a unit of the NICED in NBMCH. It is good that the decision has been finally made. It will largely benefit people of this region,” said Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty of the state health department in north Bengal.
A five-member team of NICED visited NBMCH for a meeting, he said.
“NBMCH will provide two floors of a building, between the emergency and the X-ray unit, to NICED for the unit,” added Roy.