Plans are afoot to revive an ambitious healthcare hub project in Itki block of Ranchi that has been dragging its feet for two years.

Envisaged with a medical college, a multi-speciality hospital and centres of excellence, the Rs 918-crore project will need a minimum of two more years to see the light of day if these fresh endeavours work.

According to sources in the state health, medical education and family welfare department, the project christened Medico City would not be delayed further provided the tender process is completed soon.

“Despite the state plan approval committee sanctioning money in 2017, the project had failed to take off. Last month (November), the request for qualification (RFQ) for development of super-speciality centres of excellence for non-communicable diseases has been floated,” a health department official said.

If everything falls into place and consultant Ernst & Young (EY) gives its nod, one may see work commencing by the first quarter of 2019, the official said, adding that a project of such magnitude would take at least two years for completion.

In January 2016, the state cabinet had cleared the Medico City project and the government roped in EY under a private-public partnership model. The plan approval committee in June 2017 approved Rs 918.20 crore.

Sudhir Kumar Ranjan, joint secretary (health), conceded that the project had been inordinately delayed. “That is because only a single party, Meditrina Hospitals Private Limited, had evinced interest. Also, the tender process was not done online. All these issues led to cancellation of the tender,” he explained.

“However, we started RFQ last month and a pre-bid meeting was held on November 30. A fresh pre-bid meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday). The last date for request for quotation is December 14. We hope to complete the process at the earliest with a nod from the private consultant. Land acquisition is not an issue. We 70 acres of encroachment-free land at the site,” Ranjan said.

The medical hub is expected to have a hospital with a 100-bed cardiac centre, a 30-bed diabetes centre, a 50-bed chronic respiratory diseases centre and a 50-bed drug and mental rehab centre.

Nearly 30 per cent of the beds in each of the centre will be reserved for underprivileged patients whose treatment will be sponsored by the state government.

The hub is also expected to boast a medical college with 100 seats and a hospital with 500 beds, besides a college for nurses, paramedics and pharmacists on 30 acres of land.