SHILLONG: The row over the denial of medical seats to Meghalaya students by the Assam government, which will come up in the Supreme Court on Monday, has once again put the focus on the delay in setting up of medical colleges in the state, which otherwise would have addressed the concerns of local students.
It was on November 2, 2012, that the state government inked an agreement with KPC Medical College Hospital, Jadavpur, Kolkata, to construct the medical college cum hospital with a cost of Rs 250 crore on PP mode at the current site at Reid Chest (TB) Hospital, Jhalupara.
Though a deadline of 2017 was set by the government, nothing moved almost five years after signing the agreement.
There was criticism in the past for the move to shift TB patients to Umsawli so that the medical college can be constructed in the same place.
However, sources pointed out that there were twin failures as neither the new medical college in the city nor the TB hospital at Umsawli took off.
A senior government official admitted that there was stalemate over the construction of medical college in the city which otherwise would have helped students from Meghalaya to avail themselves of the facilities without seeking medical seats outside the state.
As per the proposal, while the medical college will have 100 seats for MBBS studies, 40 seats will be reserved for Meghalaya students.
Besides, the plan was to construct 500 hospital beds, and another 100 beds for a super-speciality centre.
The proposal was to enroll the first batch of students from May 2017, and another deadline was to complete 250 beds by 2016 and the entire facility by 2020. While the proposed medical college to come up at Jhalupara was on PPP mode, the state government had planned the Tura medical college with 100 seats with the support of Rs 189 crore from the Centre that has already allotted Rs 51 crore.
However, there is hurdle for construction as the upgradation plan of Tura Civil Hospital as part of the project will depend on the residents who have to move out of the current residential premises close to the civil hospital for expansion work.
The Rs 189-crore Tura Medical College with 100 seats will come up on 100 acres in Doldegre, 8 km from Tura.
Earlier, the foundation stone for the project was laid in 2012 in the area under Balalgre and Jewilgre Nokmaship near Damalgre, which is around 25 km from Tura, but it was abandoned as it did not fulfil certain criteria laid down by the Health Ministry.
Another new development is that in addition to the proposed medical college in Jhalupara, the state government has sent a proposal to the Centre to set up another medical college at Pasteur Hills, Lawmali, which will be centrally funded.
The state government has also identified land for the proposed college on the present campus of NIFT at Pasteur Hills.