The Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti Thursday called for expediting work on establishment of the five new medical colleges to augment the medical education and healthcare facilities in the State.Chairing a high level meeting here to review the progress of work on establishment of new medical colleges in the State, the Chief Minister said that the new Medical Colleges coming up at Baramulla, Anantnag, Rajouri, Doda and Kathua, will not only strengthen the medical infrastructure, but also give a big boost to the tertiary healthcare and medical education in the region. She added that these new Medical Colleges will also substantially add to the already existing MBBS seats per year in the State with 100 seats per College.The meeting was attended by Minister for Health & Medical Education, Mr Bali Bhagat and Minister of State for Health & Medical Education Ms Asiea Naqash. Chief Secretary, Mr B R Sharma, Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development and Monitoring, Mr B B Vyas, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr Navin K Choudhary, Commissioner Secretary, Public Works, Mr Rohit Kansal, Commissioner Secretary, Revenue, Mr M A Mir, Secretary Health & Medical Education, Mr M K Bhandari, Chief Engineer R&B and MD JKPCC also attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that the responsibility of executing the work on the two new medical colleges at Baramulla and Anantnag has been assigned to JKPCC and for Rajouri it has been assigned to R&B Department Jammu. The foundation stone for the medical colleges at Rajouri, Baramulla and Anantnag was laid by the Chief Minister and the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare on 15 May 2016.With regard to establishment of the other two medical colleges at Doda and Kathua, the Chief Minister was informed that the final award and consequent mutation of the land for the medical college at Doda in favour of Health & Medical Education Department and transfer of land for the one at Kathua is under process. In this regard, the Chief Minister issued directions for time bound completion of this exercise, enabling timely start of execution of these two projects as well.The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme – ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing referral/district hospitals’ had asked the State Government in 2014 to identify 5 sites for setting up new Medical Colleges in J&K.
Rs 189 crore for each medical college was also sanctioned with a funding pattern of 90:10 (Centre:State) including Rs 69 crore for construction of medical college, Rs 40 crore for construction of hostel and residence for students/ faculty, Rs 30 crore for upgradation of teaching/district hospital and Rs 50 crore for procurement of machinery and equipment.It was further informed that the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has already released over Rs 21 crore as the 1st installment, for taking up construction work of the 3 medical colleges and up-gradation of existing district hospitals at Baramulla, Anantnag and Rajouri.Meanwhile, the Chief Minister was also shown the detailed construction plan and campus layout of the medical colleges and was informed that construction work at the three sites in Baramulla, Anantnag and Rajouri shall start soon. The Chief Minister instructed that the construction of each component of the said project should be completed within the stipulated time.During the meeting, the Chief Minister reiterated her earlier directions with regard to ensuring that the projects taken in hand should be completed within the fixed time period, so that no cost overruns accrue.