Slow progress of Medical Colleges

During his tenure as Union Health Minister some years back, Ghulam Nabi Azad used his official position to obtain sanction of the Union Cabinet for setting up five new Medical Colleges in the State at Kathua, Doda, Rajouri, Anantnag and Baramulla. Union Government committed to provide rupees 189 crores for each new Medical College and the State Government had to provide land measuring a minimum of 200 kanals. The criterion was laid down by the Medical Council of India in accordance with the standards approved for a new Medical College.
Opening a new Medical College brings cheer to the people of respective localities. J&K State has had only two Medical Colleges, one each in Srinagar and Jammu. Besides, Batra Private Medical College is also functioning at Sidhra in Jammu. The necessity for new Medical Colleges was felt because the population of the State has grown and crossed one crore and there is increased demand for medical facilities. It was expected that with the five new Medical Colleges made functional, at least five hundred students would come out annually with MBBS degrees and in this way, deficiency of doctors in our hospitals whether in urban or in rural areas would be overcome. This was a highly appreciable contribution of the then Union Health Minister.
It has taken a long time for the State Government and especially the Revenue Department to identify, acquire and transfer land to the Health Department as the sites for new Medical Colleges. More than three years have passed and still identification of the land in two districts of Doda and Rajouri is in process. The selected site had to meet some basic requirements as laid down in the guidelines for the new Medial Colleges, and only then would the Union Ministry of Health give its nod for the release of fund. We understand that in the districts of Anantnag, Baramulla and Rajouri, land has been identified and approved and that work on the construction of Medical College in these districts is about to be taken in hand. The point to be emphasized is that a sense of urgency has to be created among all actors in this project. A big problem with our Health Department is that while the Government spends lakhs of rupees on medical education of a doctor, the doctors avoid rendering service in rural areas because in terms of monetary benefits, rural areas do not promise anything bright for them in comparison to urban areas. The benefit of opening five Medical Colleges would be that at least doctors coming out of these areas would be posted in their respective districts and that would be a practical solution to the manpower deficit problem in rural hospitals. We would even suggest that a Nursing College in each district of the State should also be considered to overcome the shortage of nurses and para-medical manpower in hospitals.
In view of this, we expect all concerned not only in the Health Department but other departments also that they will realize the need of setting up of these Medical Colleges as early as possible because the people are in great need of medical services especially those who live in rural areas. Expediting the setting up of these colleges is also important for avoiding escalation of cost of construction. Once five new Medical Colleges begin to function in their respective districts, it is bound to bring about radical change in health services in the State. Therefore, we lay much emphasis on expeditious implementation of the plan.

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