Guwahati: In a first, the Assam government has collaborated with the private sector for building the infrastructure of a medical college in the state. Thanks to Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd. which has joined hands with the state government to bring in developing the medical education sector of the state.
On Friday, the state government entered into an MoU for the infrastructure development of the academic block of the second medical college of Guwahati with Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd. at a function held at Janata Bhawan here.
Present at the function, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “It is indeed a matter of pride and joy that responding to the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the corporate sector for providing more opportunities to Indian students in the field of medical education, Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd. has chosen Assam as the first state to start the noble collaboration”. He, therefore, thanked the investor for this philanthropic activity.
Sarma said that almost six decades ago in the year 1960, the first medical college in Guwahati was established to cater to the needs of the people of the state as well the neighbouring states. Since then, the population in the state has grown manifold so does the number of students aspiring to pursue medical education.
Considering the ever-growing demand, the government took several steps for augmenting opportunities for medical education and advanced healthcare facilities by setting up medical colleges in different parts of the state. However, a second medical college at Guwahati which is the nerve center of Northeast’s economic and social activities was a long-felt need, the CM added.
Therefore, taking a pragmatic step to address this requirement, the state government has taken up the task of establishing a second medical college in Guwahati with the provision of 1000 bedded hospital and academic block with hostels for boys and girls for 100 annual intake MBBS students.
Resultantly Bright Star Investments Pvt Limited has come up with a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contribution of Rs 150 crore for infrastructure development of the Academic Block, UG and Intern Hostels of this Medical College.
Earlier, the state government announced its vision of one medical college per district in Assam. Already, the government has taken steps for setting up 15 new medical colleges in addition to the nine existing ones.
Out of the 15 new medical colleges, seven medical colleges are being constructed at Nalbari, Nagaon, Kokrajhar, Tinsukia, Charaideo, Biswanath Chariali, and the second medical college in Guwahati. Sarma informed that the state government was going to start construction of five more medical colleges at Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Marigaon, Tamulpur and Dhemaji during this month and work for three more medical colleges proposed at Sivasagar, Karimganj and Goalpara will be taken up very soon.
In the next five years Assam will have a total of 24 medical colleges, greatly improving the availability of doctors and medical care in the state, he said.
The CM also said that with the increase in medical colleges in the state, the number of MBBS seats has also increased from 726 in 2014 to 1200 in 2022. Till 2014 total Post Graduate (PG) seats in Assam was 395. In 2022 the total number of PG seats has increased to 711.
The availability of doctors has therefore improved significantly. Similarly, 44 super-specialty seats are now available in various institutions under the Govt of Assam. Moreover, when the construction of the proposed medical colleges gets completed, the state will have 2700 MBBS seats, thereby significantly enhancing opportunities for medical education in Assam.
The Chief Minister exuded confidence that the signing of the MoU launched a new beginning in Assam. He said that in the days ahead more such collaborations will happen to give a major boost to medical education in the state.
