Government Medical College, Patiala was proposed in October 1951 by the Patiala and East Punjab States Union government, under the First Five-Year Plan. The first batch was started on 29 September 1953. The classes initially started from the old building of the Rajindar Hospital, which later shifted to the Archives Department, located on The Mall Road, opposite the Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir Memorial Central State Library (earlier known as the Rajindar Victoria Diamond Jubilee Library), about 2 kilometers from its current location. With the construction of the new Rajendra Hospital in 1953 the old hospital building was made available to house some of the offices of the PEPSU state. Currently the Archives Department is housed in the old Rajindar Hospital. The old Rajindar Hospital is a building outside the old town opposite the Baradari. The old Rajindar Hospital was a building with 56 beds, built in the time of the second Council of Regency in 1877. It was formally opened in January 1883. A thoroughly modern operation room was added to the building by Maharaja Rajindar Singh. The Dufferin Hospital close by the Rajindar Hospital was also built in the time of the second Council of Regency, the foundation stone having been laid in November 1888 and the building opened in October 1890. An Assistant Surgeon lent by the Government of the Punjab held charge of the Rajindar Hospital and was also Civil Surgeon of Patiala. Attached to the Rajindar Hospital was the female hospital (Lady Dufferin Hospital now known as Mata Kaushalya Hospital) under the charge of a Medical Lady Superintendent. The hospital is named after Maharaja Sir Rajinder Singh and it receives a notable mention in 1908 by The Imperial Gazetteer of India as the Rajindar Hospital. The hospital was known as Rajindar Hospital in pre-independence era, was mentioned as Rajendra Hospital for some time, and currently uses the name Rajindra Hospital. With its attached 1009-bed Rajindra Hospital + 121-bed TB hospital is one of the largest health institutions in the region. The attached central clinical laboratory with facilities for hematology, pathology, microbiology, biochemistry is known as Bhupindra Clinical Laboratory.