Mohali medical college set to start from upcoming session
PROCESS SET IN MOTION Punjab government constitutes 13-member board of management with former PGIMER director Dr KK Talwar as its chairman
CHANDIGARH: Announced three years ago by the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress regime in Punjab, the Mohali medical college is set to be a reality in the upcoming academic session with the state government issuing notification for constituting the board of management, seen as the last-mile formality to start such an institution.
As per the notification issued by the state medical education and research department, the board of management of the college named as ‘Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences’ will be headed by Dr KK Talwar, former director of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
Talwar, who is also former chairperson of the Medical Council of India (MCI), is adviser to the state government on health and medical education affairs. Congress’ Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari, Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra are among members of the board whereas director-principal of the college will be its member secretary.
The 13-member board will have administrative secretaries of medical education and research, health, finance and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) vice-chancellor (VC) as ex-officio members. The PGIMER director, and head of neurology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Dr MV Padma will be nominated members of the board.
“All major formalities for starting the college are complete as we have already set in motion the process for recruitment of faculty and other staff besides purchase of equipment. There is no doubt over starting classes at the college from the upcoming session,” principal secretary (medical education and research) DK Tiwari told HT.
This will be the fourth state government-run medical college in Punjab. The Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, was the last state governmentrun institution to be set up in Punjab in 1973.
Coming up with 60% financial aide of the Centre, the medical college could not see the light of day due to the state’s bad fiscal position which delayed sanctioning of staff for it. A senior official said the Centre at the time of sanctioning the medical college in 2016 was ready to fund the project in 75:25 ratio. The government has already got vacated a nursing institute, offices of the National Health Mission and the Punjab Health System Corporation
situated next to the Mohali civil hospital to start the classes.
PROCESS SET IN MOTION TO RE-START CHINTPURNI COLLEGE
Medical education department officials said Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot, which was shut in 2017 due to financial reasons, has also set in motion the process to revoke the MCI orders. The college has already applied with the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences to get clearance mandatory before the MCI visit. Already, Gian Sagar Medical College, Banur, which was also shut in 2017, is also set to start 150 MBBS seats from the upcoming session.