CM announces first Medical University; Committee set up

129 Medical Colleges, Institutes to be covered

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 18: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today announced setting up of first Medical University in Jammu and Kashmir, which would cover 16 professional Medical Colleges and 113 para-medical institutes in the State and reduce burden of Jammu University and Kashmir University to a large extent.
Mehbooba announced the setting up of the University through a tweet this morning.
“In an effort to realize my father’s vision, we will start the process to set up the first Medical University in Jammu and Kashmir during the upcoming Assembly session. The healthcare and education sectors are vital to our State,” she wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.
Health and Medical Education Minister Bali Bhagat tweeted: “Medical University in J&K will be a reality, A high-level committee has been constituted today”.
Later, Bhagat told the Excelsior that the proposal for setting up first ever Medical University in Jammu and Kashmir would be placed for the Cabinet nod within a fortnight after which the legislation (for the University) would be tabled before the Legislature in upcoming budget session.
“If everything goes well, we propose to give final shape to the Medical University by next academic year,” he said, adding that a total of 16 professional Medical Colleges and 113 Para-Medical Colleges and Nursing Institutes in the State would be covered by the Medical University.
Bhagat said all these colleges, which were presently under the control of Jammu University and Kashmir University, will be taken out of the purview of these two Varsities and placed under the control of Medical University.
Official sources said Jammu and Kashmir would become 15th State only in the country to have separate Medical University to deal exclusively with Medical Colleges, Para-Medical Colleges, Nursing institutes and related Colleges.
Sixteen professional Medical Colleges, which would come under the control of upcoming Medical University, included Government Medical Colleges (GMC) Srinagar, GMC Bemina, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Government Dental College Srinagar, Government Unani College Srinagar (to be set up shortly), GMC Jammu, Government Dental College Jammu, Dental College Sehora, Jammu, Acharya Shri Chandra College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS), Government Ayurvedic College Jammu, Trikuta Ayurveda College Jammu and five upcoming Medical Colleges including Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Anantnag and Baramulla.
A total of 113 Para-Medical Colleges and Nursing Institutes would also come under the domain of new Medical University,
They included 22 Government run ANMT/AMT Colleges including 10 in Jammu and 12 in Kashmir and 91 similar private colleges including 34 in Kashmir and 57 in Jammu.
Sources said initially the Government has proposed Medical University in one region and it’s Campus in another region. However, keeping in view the regional aspirations, the Government might set up two Medical Universities-one each in the two regions. However, a detailed view on this would be taken up by the State Cabinet in the next fortnight and the draft bill would be prepared accordingly.
“The Medical University would reduce burden on Jammu University and Kashmir University as 16 Medical Colleges and 113 Para-Medical Colleges and Nursing Institutes etc would be taken out of their purview and all these Colleges would be affiliated with the new University,” sources said.
Meanwhile, Health and Medical Education Minister Bali Bhagat today set up a high-level Committee to give final shape to the draft bill and complete other formalities for setting up of the Medical University in the State.
The Committee comprised Additional Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Naseer Wani, Dr Yash Pal Sharma, Registrar, Government Medical College, Jammu, one representative of Principal, Government Medical College Jammu, one member to be nominated by the Vice Chancellor, Jammu University and a retired Principal.
The Committee has been directed to expedite the tasks assigned to it to ensure that the Medical University starts working from next academic session.

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