PATNA, Nov. 7 -- The National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved 30 additional postgraduate medical seats at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, including two new MD programmes in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) and emergency medicine, according to a press release issued by the institute on Friday. With the approval, IGIMS will become the first medical college in Bihar to offer an MD course in emergency medicine, expanding specialised training in emergency and critical care. The two new courses will have two seats in physical medicine and rehabilitation and four in emergency medicine. The NMC has also approved 24 additional PG seats across eight existing departments. "The expansion will increase opportunities for medical graduates to pursue specialised training at the institute and strengthen its academic and clinical capacity," deputy director (administration) Dr Bibhuti Prassan Sinha, also the institute's spokesperson, said. The approved seat increase includes four additional seats in biochemistry, two each in psychiatry, respiratory medicine, radiation oncology and ENT, and four in general surgery. Obstetrics and gynaecology will get five additional seats, while physiology will have three more. With the increase in MD seats, the PMR will have total two seats, emergency medicine four, biochemistry eight, general surgery 12, obstetrics and gynaecology nine, radiation oncology six and psychiatry, respiratory medicine, physiology and otorhinolaryngology (ENT) five each. The IGIMS also recently performed its first successful liver transplant under government funding, using the organs of a 16-year-old road accident victim whose parents agreed to donate them after he was declared brain dead, another press release issued by the institute on Thursday said. The teenager's donated liver and two kidneys gave a new lease of life to three critically ill patients. The transplant procedures were completed successfully at IGIMS and the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital, Patna. Monu Kumar, of Patna's Hanumannagar, sustained serious head injuries in a road accident on October 19. His father, Subhash Kumar, initially admitted him to Medanta Hospital, where he underwent treatment from October 19 to 21. He was subsequently referred to IGIMS, according to an official....