PATNA, May 19 -- Six of the eight outdoor patient departments (OPD) as part of the first phase of the renovation project of the century old Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) will be shifted from the British era buildings to the new OPD building of Bihar's oldest medical college on Monday, said its medical superintendent Dr IS Thakur on Sunday. The OPD of medicine, geriatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, preventive and social medicine (PSM) and dental departments will be shifted to the newly constructed tower 1 and tower 2, each of nine-storey, which CM Nitish Kumar inaugurated on May 3, said Dr Thakur. Together, the six departments will have an average daily patient footfall of around 1,000 patients. "We got the clearance from the fire department on Friday and will operationalise the newly constructed towers 1 and 2 by shifting the OPD of six of the eight departments we initially want to begin with on Monday. We will then shift the OPD of cardiology, eye, ENT (ear-nose-throat)," said Dr Thakur. The superintendent said the full shifting of OPD of roughly 27 departments, including those of super specialty, to the new towers, will be done in a graded manner over the next few months. Most of the OPD departments are presently functional at the Central Utility Building of the hospitals, which will be shifted to their designated towers, as they are completed. The inauguration of two of the four towers under the first phase of the PMCH redevelopment project on May 3 added 1,117 patient beds to the existing capacity of 1,750 beds at the hospital. The phase-wise shifting of the OPD departments will also pave the way for initiation of work on the second phase of the hospital redevelopment project that will add another 1800 beds. The third and final phase of the project will add another 1,750 beds for patients, said Dr Thakur....