Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi, Sep 3 : Congress General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday welcomed the long-awaited approval for a government medical college in Wayanad, calling it a major milestone for the region.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has sanctioned new medical colleges in both Wayanad and Kasaragod. In a statement, Priyanka Gandhi said the project marked the fulfilment of the dream of lakhs of people in Wayanad.
She credited sustained efforts by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and local leaders in pressing for the demand, while also thanking the authorities for responding positively. “Thrilled to know that finally, the dream of a medical college in Wayanad is going to be a reality. The earnest requests of lakhs of people of Wayanad, the sustained efforts by Rahul Gandhi, and all our own efforts to expedite the matter have borne fruit,” Priyanka said.
She urged the state government to take all necessary steps to make the college functional at the earliest, adding that it would significantly improve healthcare access for the district’s tribal and rural population. IHealth Minister Veena George on Tuesday confirmed that the NMC has sanctioned 50 MBBS seats each at the new government medical colleges in Wayanad and Kasaragod.
She said the state has set up the required infrastructure and academic facilities to meet NMC norms and assured that admissions would begin this academic year itself. At the Wayanad Medical College, a multipurpose block worth Rs 45 crore and a 60-seat nursing college have been commissioned.
To support the first MBBS batch, 140 posts, including 115 teaching and 25 non-teaching staff, were created and filled. A modern mortuary complex of Rs 2.30 crore, a cath lab of Rs 8.23 crore enabling angioplasty, a cardiology department, and a pediatric ICU have also been established. Notably, Kerala’s first sickle cell unit has been set up here, which recently performed the district’s first hip replacement surgery for a sickle cell patient.
E-health and e-office systems have been introduced, and an oxygen generator plant costing Rs 20.61 lakh has been completed. Both Wayanad and Kasaragod colleges, George said, would be expanded in phases, similar to older government medical colleges.
IANS