Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday gave in-principle approval to set up a new Government Medical College, with an intake capacity of 100 seats, at SAS Nagar (Mohali) in order to address the shortage of medical specialists, while giving a boost to medical education in the State.
This will be the first of the five new medical colleges that the Congress had promised in its poll manifesto. The decision was announced after a meeting to review the functioning of medical and dental colleges in the State. The proposed 200-bedded hospital-cum-medical college will be established over an area of 20 acres at a cost of nearly Rs 190 crore, of which 60 percent share will be contributed by the Centre and the remaining 40 percent will be borne by the State Government.
The State Government will soon forward a detailed proposal in this regard to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The recurring expenditure for maintenance and upkeep of the upcoming medical college would be Rs 45 crore annually, which would be exclusively borne by the State Government.
The new medical college would have a faculty of six professors, 14 associate professors, 18 assistant professors, 17 tutors, 24 senior residents and 25 junior residents in various disciplines, including Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, General Medicine, General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pharmacology, Orthopedics, Anesthesia, Forensic Medicine etc, said the spokesperson.
With the establishment of the new college at Mohali, the total number of Government colleges in the State will go up to four.
The Chief Minister suggested setting up of medical colleges in Punjab’s interiors to reach out to the students across the State.
He also informed the meeting that several industrialists had shown interest in setting up medical colleges and facilities in the State and his Government was actively pursuing the same.