Construction of 5 new medical colleges in Assam to start this year

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The ongoing fiscal year is turning out to be a significant one for the medical education and healthcare sector of the state, as construction of five new medical colleges-cum-hospitals will start shortly.

The foundation stone of one medical college & hospital has been already laid in Tamulpur and foundation stones of the four others will be laid between September-end and October. These will be located at Morigaon, Golaghat, Bongaigaon and Dhemaji.

The state government had initially allocated a total fund of Rs 2,500 crore for construction works of these new institutions – Rs 500 crore for each. However, the corpus was recently increased to Rs 3,159.04 crore with a view to setting up enhanced environment-friendly infrastructural facilities in the long term.

According to the new estimates, Rs 666.94 crore has been allocated for the Tamulpur Medical College & Hospital, Rs 647.38 crore for the Morigaon Medical College & Hospital, Rs 631.82 crore for the Golaghat Medical College & Hospital, Rs 610.67 crore for the Bongaigaon Medical College & Hospital and Rs 602.25 crore for the Dhemaji Medical College & Hospital.

The construction works will be carried out after bidding process under the Assam PWD. The site identification for the new institutions has been almost finalized and officials of the Health Department and the PWD have already carried out several inspections in this regard. It is estimated that it will take around three years for the construction works to be completed.

The state government feels that the new institutions were needed in these places not only for boosting the medical education scenario of the state, but also to cater to the healthcare needs of the local population of the areas concerned.

It may be mentioned that there are nine medical colleges & hospitals in Assam as of now after the National Medical Commission accorded approval to the Dhubri Medical College & Hospital, which will have 100 MBBS seats and start classes this year itself. The OPD is already functional in this institution.

It is further relevant to mention that several other medical colleges-cum-hospitals are currently under construction in various other places of the state.

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