The distantly located Andaman and Nicobar Islands can soon boast of its first medical college that will be modeled on the North Delhi Municipal Corporation's medical college at Hindu Rao Hospital. The administration of Andaman Nicobar Islands has sought consultancy from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) in developing a medical college there. The exercise primarily aims at producing more doctors in the Union Territory as it faces a dearth of doctors as most of them are often reluctant to serve in the remote island.
NMC Commissioner PK Gupta said a request in this regard was made by the Health Secretary of Andaman Nicobar, Reena Ray. He said the administration there has urged the NMC to guide them in developing the medical college that will be associated to the GB Pant Hospital in the islands. "Responding to their request, we are sending the project report. If required, we will inspect the hospital to guide them with the most viable way," said Commissioner Gupta.
The move comes as a big boost for the corporation which often faces criticism for poor infrastructure and lack of healthcare facilities at its hospitals. However, the civic body rose to fame with its first and India's third only municipality-run medical college. Built in less a record time of six months and at an expenditure of less than Rs 7 crore, the medical college began its first session with 50 students in August this year. The infrastructure for the same was developed by renovating the unused structure on the Hindu Rao Hospital premises. More importantly, the medical college also managed to receive the mandatory nod from the Medical Council of India in its first inspection itself.
"We have the module ready for the project and a paper has also been prepared that was presented at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in August. We are ready to provide consultancy for the proposed medical college," said Mayank Sharma, Additional Commissioner (Health) in NMC, who was instrumental in execution of the medical college in Delhi. Reena Ray, Health Secretary in Andaman Nicobar Islands, said they found the NMC's model of medical college an inspiring one and so they expressed their interest in developing the medical college in the islands. Officials said, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which otherwise has good healthcare services, lacks a medical college of its own.
As a result of this, the territory often faces shortage of doctors as being a remotely located destination; doctors from other parts of the country are reluctant to work there. However, opening of the medical college will serve the dual purpose of fulfilling the required number of doctors as also it will provide ample opportunity to the local students as a majority of seats will be reserved for the local students. In Delhi, 85 per cent of seats in the NMC medical college is reserved for the natives of Delhi.
The 412-bedded GB Pant Hospital in Andaman is the lone referral hospital for the entire UT with specialised services in surgery, medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, ENT, pathology and ophthalmology. The hospital is also proposed to be modernised and upgraded to cater to the need of the population by establishing super specialty departments like cardiology, neurology, urology and oncology so as to minimise the referral of serious patients requiring super specialist intervention to mainland.