SHILLONG, April 26: A beleaguered Meghalaya government is exploring the possibility of utilising its present infrastructure in realising the Shillong Medical College project.
“We are looking at high probability of the Shillong Medical College actually occurring in Shillong itself without looking at wastage of direction of funds to infrastructure building,” Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh told media persons here on Wednesday.
Currently, Meghalaya has the Shillong Civil Hospital, Ganesh Das Hospital and Reid Provincial Chest Hospital.
Stating that the matter will have to be taken to the State Cabinet for fruition, the minister said that it is likely that there will be a requirement of additional buildings besides the infrastructure at hand.
“We still require proper Cabinet notes to be sent and proper projections to be made. But yes, Shillong Medical College will probably change from the old proposal,” she said.
She also hinted that the proposal of constructing the medical college under the public-private partnership (PPP) model will be shifted out of Shillong, and somewhere within the state.
“But all of this is just being prepared now and it would be incorrect for me to divulge too much on that. But one message that can go very clearly is that we are concerned and we are on the job. We will come up with a proposal and a plan at the earliest,” the Health minister said.
With regard to Tura Medical College, the Health minister said that work is progressing.
“We have about 45% of physical progress. They are on the job to construct hostels, quarters and actual teaching hospital area. There are some problems since we are also engaging with other nearby hospitals to ensure that we reach the mark of 450 beds as recommended by the Medical Council of India (MCI). All of that is progressing accurately,” she said.
Lyngdoh further informed that the problems about funding availability have also been sorted out.
“I will go on the ground to understand better how Tura Medical College is progressing,” she said.
