Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) is set to significantly strengthen its critical care services with the addition of three new Intensive Care Units (ICUs), they are expected to become operational within a week. The expansion will enhance treatment for critically ill newborns and children by increasing bed capacity and introducing a centralised patient monitoring system across all the new ICUs - a feature that was not available earlier. The project was started on October 2025 and is slated for completion in mid August 2026 as part of the hospital’s infrastructure expansion. With these additions and other recently developed critical care units, GMCH will now have a total of seven ICUs, further improving its ability to provide specialised treatment to critically ill patients.

 

The newly developed Inborn Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Ward 25 has a capacity of 50 beds and is dedicated to treating newborns with severe infections and other life-threatening conditions. Since these infants require highly sterile surroundings, the ward has been developed as a dedicated asepsis zone with strict infection-control measures. Earlier, the capacity was only of 40 beds. Located next to the milk bank, the unit also includes a nursing station, counselling room, teaching room, staff resting room, sterilisation room, storage room and an MRI room, although the MRI machine is yet to be installed. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Ward 24 has been expanded from 17 to 28 beds, enabling the hospital to accommodate more critically ill children aged between one month and 12 years. The ward also includes a residents’ room, storage facility and an isolation room for infectious diseases such as rabies or any other transmittable diseases. It is situated opposite the Gynecology Operation Theatre, ensuring quicker access during emergencies.

 

The Outborn NICU in Ward 27, which caters to newborns referred from other healthcare facilities, has also been upgraded and currently. The earlier capacity was only of 20 beds which was very less compared to patients needs, and hence now got a capacity of 40 beds. A major highlight of the expansion is the introduction of a centralised monitoring system in all the new ICUs. Every bedside monitor is linked to a central monitoring station, allowing doctors and nurses to observe all admitted patients simultaneously and respond immediately if a patient’s condition deteriorates, thereby improving patient safety and clinical efficiency. In total, the hospital now contains 7 ICUs. The ICUs are equipped with ventilators, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT), dialysis facilities, portable X-ray machines and echocardiography equipment. Once operational, the expanded facilities are expected to ease the burden on existing ICUs and strengthen GMCH’s ability to provide timely, specialised critical care to patients from Nagpur and across the Vidarbha region.