By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 28: Facing stiff opposition to its plans of operating the Tura Medical College and Hospital on a public-private-partnership (PPP) mode, the state government has finally given up the idea and has, instead, decided to run the upcoming medical college and hospital on its own.
Informing this here on Tuesday, Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla said the government has decided not to go for the PPP model since people are not confident about it.
“So we will run the Tura Medical College as a government institute and recruitment of faculty will start soon,” the minister said while informing that the work on the project is nearing completion.
Initially, the government wanted to operate Tura Medical College on a PPP mode but the idea generated massive opposition in Garo Hills.
Opposition to the PPP model stems from concerns about reduced MBBS seats, higher fees, loss of government control over appointments, and the potential for private entities to prioritise profit over public welfare.
As far as the Shillong Medical College and Hospital is concerned, the minister informed that classes for the first MBBS batch have already started and although the institute has enough faculties for its smooth operation, the government will recruit additional faculty shortly.
Admitting that there will be challenges with anything new, he said that the majority of the faculty members are from Meghalaya but some have to be brought from outside.
Shylla informed that the state government wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the SMCH but since he was busy, the government decided to invite Union Health Minister JP Nadda to inaugurate the college.
Asked about the demand for a medical college in Jowai, he said that the government will explore the idea. He made it clear that it would not be easy to fulfil the criteria and hence the government has to be practical on the matter.
