Centre sanctions medical college and hospital on IIT-Kharagpur campus

Updated on: Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Centre has sanctioned a 400-bed superspeciality hospital on the IIT-Kharagpur campus which will have a medical college attached to it so that the premier institute can start a medical course. Once this happens, IIT-Kgp will be the only one in the chain to impart medical education alongside technology.

A 45-acre plot has been earmarked for what promises to be a modern green building with minimal energy consumption at the south-east-end of the premises. Construction is slated to begin before Durga Puja.

The Centre and IIT-Kgp have chosen public sector enterprise HSCC for the project. HSCC provides professional consultancy services in the health care sector to both state-run and private hospitals. "It is in the process of finalising the architect who will prepare the building plan, according to specifications of our own civil constructions cell," said S K Som, director of the institute.

The institute runs a master's degree course in medical technology, which has already received much acclaim across the country. This encouraged it about five years ago to start a proper undergraduate medical course recognised by the MCI. But the plan met with both technical and legal hurdles as never before in the country had a tech school tried to start medical education. Moreover, while the IITs are run by the ministry of human resources development, medical education is overseen by the Medical Council of India, which is under the health ministry.

However, after much persuasion and deliberation, both ministries have now agreed on the project. "We will have both medical and educational tie-ups with AIIMS," said Som. There will be several international collaborations, too, and the institute has already held talks for possible tie-ups with the John Hopkins University - the leading university in the US for bio-medical research, medicine and genetics.

Of the Rs 230 crore required for the project, Rs 150 crore will be given by the Centre and the institute has to arrange the rest. The Centre has already sent in an initial amount of Rs 75 crore.

Centre sanctions medical college and hospital on IIT-Kharagpur campus

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