In Himachal Pradesh four government colleges with 100 MBBS seats and an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will soon be opened

Updated on: Thursday, February 25, 2016

In a bid to provide a major impetus to the medical education in Himachal Pradesh, four government colleges with 100 MBBS seats and an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will soon open in the state.

According to PTI, Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Kaul Singh said that the medical colleges being set up at Nahan and Chamba are expected to become functional from this year as the government has already set in motion the process of admissions to the MBBS course and teams from the Medical Council of India have inspected the colleges.

Singh revealed that forest clearance is awaited for the land identified for Hamirpur Medical College, while the ESI Medical College at Ner Chowk in Mandi district would be handed over to the state government soon.

The ESI Medical College initially was to be set up by the Union Labour Ministry. However, after the change of government at the Centre, the state was offered to take over the college, he said.

The Union government has already spent Rs 650 crore on the project and an interest of Rs 285 crore had accrued during this period. The Himachal Pradesh state government agreed to pay the principal amount in 10 instalments but not the interest. A consensus had been reached on not paying the interest and the college would be handed over to the state and made functional soon, the minister revealed. .

The medical colleges at Nahan, Chamba and Hamirpur were approved during the UPA rule and Rs 190 crore was sanctioned for each of these colleges for the building infrastructure. According to Singh, the Centre also released Rs 12 crore and Rs 10 crore for Chamba and Nahan medical colleges respectively.

The land of animal husbandry department near Bilaspur, in the home district of Union health minister J P Nadda, has been transferred for setting up of AIIMS and its foundation stone would be laid soon.

The two government medical colleges currently functioning in the Himachal Pradesh- the Indira Gandhi Medical College in Shimla and Dr Rajendra Pradesh Medical College in Tanda (Kangra) have 100 MBBS seats each. Once these new medical colleges become functional, the total number of MBBS seats in the government medical colleges would go up to 700, Singh further added.

In Himachal Pradesh four government colleges with 100 MBBS seats and an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will soon be opened

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