Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta took stock of the establishment of two new medical colleges here at Udhampur and Handwara (Kupwara).
The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary, PWD; Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education; Principal GMC, Srinagar; Chief Engineers of PWD and other officers of the concerned Departments.
The Chief Secretary (CS) stressed on the fact that both these medical colleges are going to cater to the needs of people living in far flung areas so needs to be established sooner. He advised the indenting department to make the designs of these hospitals as per the guidelines of Medical Council of India (MCI).
Dr Mehta impressed upon the Health and Medical Education Department to work for starting of classes in these colleges from the next academic session. He asked them to explore the option of hiring the necessary infrastructure for starting the class work near the respective district hospitals.
The Chief Secretary directed the executing agencies to complete all the formalities for tendering out the civil works in next two months. He also advised the department to simultaneously initiate the process for procurement of medical equipments for these colleges simultaneously so that there is efficient utilization of available time.
The meeting was informed that both these colleges are established here under phase III of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI. It was revealed that an amount of Rs 325 crores are estimated to be spent on each of this college.
Describing further it was said that on construction of administrative and Academic Block of the college an amount of Rs 115 Crore is earmarked. Similarly on Hostels an amount of Rs 80 Crore, 60 Crore on upgradation of associated hospital and Rs 70 Crore on the procurement of machinery and equipment for each college is scheduled to be spent.
The colleges would have an intake capacity of 100 MBBS seats each and would enhance the total MBBS seats substantially in the UT of J&K. Around 1612 posts of faculty, doctors, paramedics, administrative staff and others have been created by the department as per the norms of National Medical Commission for these twin colleges, the meeting was informed.
