Government approves upgrade of 13 medical colleges in 8 states

New Delhi, Aug 3 The government today approved the upgrading of 13 government medical colleges in eight states in a move aimed at creating more tertiary care facilities.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the upgrading under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

"The upgradation will be done at a cost of Rs 200 crore for each GMCI (Central share: Rs 120 crore and state share Rs 80 crore). Accordingly the total upgradation cost shall be Rs 2,600 crore out of which central share will be Rs 1,560 crore and that of state will be Rs 1,040 crore. It will be completed in 36 months," an official statement said.

The medical colleges which will be upgraded are: PMCH, Patna, GMC Bhagalpur and Gaya, medical college in Bilaspur and Jagdalpur in Chhattissgarh, UCMS-GTB Hospital in Delhi, GMC in Surat and Bhavnagar in Gujarat, GMC in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Cuttack in Odisha, Jaipur in Rajasthan and Agra and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

"Upgradation of existing GMCIs will create tertiary care facilities. The tertiary care institutions will serve as composite centres for continued professional education, treatment, patient care and multi skilling of health workers," the statement said.

The upgrading would involve strengthening of existing departments as well as building super-speciality blocks and trauma centres and other facilities as Centres of Excellence.

However, the upgradaing process will vary from one institution to another as per "specific local needs" and the facilities to be augmented during upgrading will be decided after proper analysis involving all stakeholders, it said.

"The population in Uttar Padesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha will be benefited where these colleges are located," it said.

PMSSY was announced in August 2003 with an objective of correcting the imbalances in availability of affordable and reliable tertiary-level healthcare in the country and to augment facilities for quality medical education.

This scheme had two components - establishment of new AIIMS and upgrading of existing government medical colleges.

Under PMSSY, 58 GMC have been approved for upgrading. Of these, work has been completed in 16 colleges while it is in progress at other places.

PTI