Mumbai''s GT Hospital to have medical college

Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) Gokuldas Tejpal (GT) Hospitalnear Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) station will soon havea undergraduate medical college.

The Maharashtra Government had announced the collegeproject last year and now it has finalised the proposal.

The college would have an intake of 100 students andwould be attached with Cama and Albless Hospital in the samepremises and nearby St George''s Hospital, making a total ofabout 500 beds available for patients.

The earlier plan was to set up the college in thesuburbs, but later its location was changed to South Mumbai,due to lack of facilities. The city already has Government-runcolleges like Grant Medical, KEM, Lokmanya Tilak and Nair.

The Government has also proposed to set up two moremedical colleges - at Alibaug in Raigad district and tribal-dominated Nandurbar district - of the same capacity.

"We have approached the Medical Council of India (MCI)for approval of these medical colleges. A MCI team is expectedto come soon to the state for inspection of the sites,"Medical Education Minister Vijaykumar Gavit today said.

A proposal would also come before the Cabinet meetingscheduled next week for budgetary allocation for the colleges.

The three colleges require Rs 1,000-crore fund of which Rs 45crore each was alloted to Alibaug and Nandurbar hospitals inthe last budget, he said.

The Government plans to turn these colleges into multi-speciality centres once they become operational, Gavit said.

Also, to reduce burden of cancer patients on TataMemorial Hospital at Parel, the Government is contemplatingstarting a cancer institute in Cama Hospital, he said.