Chandigarh:
The Centre has given approval for the establishment of a government medical college at Kapurthala with an outlay of Rs 325 crore, a Punjab government release said on Thursday. The letter according the approval has been received by the state government from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it said. According to the communication received, the college would be set up at a cost of Rs 325 crore, of which 60 percent Rs 195 crore would be incurred by the Centre.
The remaining 40 per cent -- Rs 130 crore -- would be given by the Punjab government. The college will be set up under a centrally sponsored scheme for establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district and referral hospitals, the release said. The upcoming government medical college is the first-of-its-kind in the Doaba region with an intake capacity of 100 seats. It would be instrumental in providing quality healthcare and diagnostic services, besides giving impetus to medical education and research in the region, it said.
The state already has three government medical colleges in Amritsar, Faridkot and Patiala. Another government medical college is being set up at SAS Nagar Mohali, and the fifth one has been sanctioned for Kapurthala. Acceding to a request from Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Centre has also cleared a proposal for upgradation of the civil hospital, thereby enhancing its bed strength from 220 to 500 with the latest medical infrastructural facilities added to the hospital, the release said.??
The state government has already identified 11 acres of land to establish the medical college, at a distance of 1.5 km from the local civil hospital. Apart from the sum of Rs 325 crore to be spent on infrastructure, Rs 50 crore has been set aside for installation of the requisite medical equipment in the college, the release said.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning the medical college at Kapurthala, saying he fulfilled a long-standing demand of the constituents of this area who had been suffering due to lack of basic medical facilities in the district.
