Chhattisgarh had one Government Medical College established during the past two years with a capacity of 100 MBBS seats.
The Medical College was established in 2014-15 while no new Government or private medical college had been established in the State during 2015-16, the Central Government has informed.
To meet the shortfall of human resources or facilities in the health sector, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for establishment of New Medical Colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals has been introduced with focus on underserved areas of the country.
A total of 58 districts under the scheme in 20 States or UTs have been identified.
As per the laid down procedure, Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) submitted by the States or UTs are required to be evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) before they are approved by the Empowered Committee (EC). Implementation is to be carried out by the respective States or UTs.
In a major relief for students as well as parents, the Centre allowed increase of 50 MBBS seats at the Government Medical College in Raipur with the permission granted to start taking admissions for the seats in September this year.
With this, the total intake for admission to the MBBS course in the Raipur Medical College has gone upto 150.
The Centre’s decision was the result of the initiative taken by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh who had urged to increase the number of seats in the medical college for the benefit of the students, officials here informed.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health Research has launched a scheme for establishment of Model Rural Health Research Units (MRHRUs) for promoting rural health research. The scheme entails setting up of 15 MRHRUs during the 12th Plan period at a total cost of Rs 67.67 crores.
Detailed guidelines have been formulated for establishment of MRHRUs. The scheme has a provision to provide non- recurring grant of Rs 2.075 crore for construction of building and Rs 1.00 crore for procurement of equipments. Besides, recurring grant of Rs 50.00 lakhs per annum is provisioned to meet expenditure on staffing, consumables, training, contingencies, etc. So far, one MRHRU each has been sanctioned in 12 States, namely, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.