TURA: Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma laid the foundation for the construction of the Tura Medical College at a function organised here at the Tura Civil Hospital on Wednesday in the presence of Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Zenith Sangma and MLAs Noverfield Marak, Dikkanchi D Shira, Bluebell R Sangma, among others.
Tura Medical College with 100 seats will be constructed on a land measuring 100 acres at Doldegre, 8 km from Tura. The project worth over Rs 180 crores will include construction of the college at Doldegre and upgradation of Tura Civil Hospital, which according to the Chief Minister will act as a “teaching hospital”.
The project was delayed for nearly five years as the earlier site located under Jewilgre and Balalgre A’king near Damalgre, was not approved by the Empowered Committee because as per the new guidelines of the Medical Council of India, a medical college should not be located more than 10 km away from the hospital. Therefore, the government had to scout for alternative site and finally acquired a new site at Doldegre.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that it was “a proud and happiest moment” of his life that “we are achieving the much needed institution that will bring complete change in the delivery of health care system in the state”. By having a medical college in the region we can now address the challenge of providing space for aspiring young medical professionals and at the same time provide access to better health care facilities for the people, he said.
Highlighting on the hurdles that led to the delay in starting the project after getting the sanction, the Chief Minister also voiced his concern over the problem of land acquisition for various developmental projects which, he said, had led the State government to adopt a new policy whereby the government reciprocates to the community who donate land by way of giving jobs. He also expressed his gratitude to the Nokmaship of Doldegre and settlers of Civil Hospital compound for the gesture shown by them for the larger interest of the people as a whole.
Stating that many a times our people surrender to diseases as they cannot afford for medical treatment in hospitals outside the state, the chief minister said that a medical college was necessary not just for the benefit of aspiring medical students but because the state needed to take care of the gap in supply and demand in healthcare facilities and put in place a comprehensive health care system that could be accessed by the people.
Pointing at the usual trend of spending by most of people on one’s health care, the Chief Minister asserted that health care should be taken as the most important aspect and urged upon the members of the medial fraternity to make it compulsory for all the citizens, in general and government employees in particular, to have regular health checkup. “When the citizens fail to have their regular health check up, they not only become unhealthy and unproductive but also end up draining out a lot of resources”, he said.
The Chief Minister also inspected some of the wards in the civil hospital and interacted with the patients inquiring about their welfare.