The Delhi Government has started the process of setting up the proposed medical college at Rohini in North-West Delhi, which might start functioning within a year. The college has been already announced in the Budget but is yet to be passed by Parliament. The State Government, however, intends to start the admission process from the next academic session. Officials said the building will be ready in three years from now but the Government will start the academic session in a prefabricated structure from the next session beginning August 2015.
The Expenditure and Finance Committee (EFC) has approved Rs29.59 crore for temporary structure of the medical college. The Delhi Budget for 2014-15 is expected to be approved by Parliament on Wednesday. Presenting the Budget for the year 2014-2015, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced setting up a new medical college with 100 seats and also promised to ensure that the first batch of students will be admitted by the next academic session. After University College of Medical Sciences and Maulana Azad Dental College, this would be the third medical college under the Delhi Government. The proposed medical college at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital was announced by the previous Congress-led Delhi Government in 2011-12 but its construction is yet to start.
Meanwhile, State officials said, the construction plan would be completed within nine months. They said the prefabricated structure is as good as the permanent one with a life of approximately 20 years and can be utilised without dismantling the site as it has been checked carefully and will not impede the construction of a permanent building.
“The construction of a temporary prefabricated structure was conceived for establishment of the medical college attached with Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital at Sector 6 Rohini. The construction will facilitate an intake of 100 students, apart from providing infrastructure for additional 100 MBBS seats in a year to boost medical education in the State. The construction of the medical college under temporary structure will help the Health Department in filing formal application as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms,” officials said.
“By the time the permanent construction is completed, at least 300 students (100 students per batch) would have been benefited which is a huge social gain. After completion of permanent building, the prefabricated structure will be used for low-end facilities viz., labs, storage, etc. The estimate includes air-conditioning, lighting and is scaled as to fulfil minimum requirement of MCI norms,” the minutes of the EFC read.
Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Prefab limited (special invitee) - who was invited to render special technical advice was in agreement with the proposal presented by PWD & Health Department for erecting such a prefabricated structure.
According to officials, these projects will be completed by March, 2015 after award of work. As and when the prefabricated structure is dismantled after completion of its useful life, revenue generated as promised by PWD/Health Department shall be deposited with the Delhi Government.