BARIPADA/KORAPUT:THE newly-established Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital (MCH) in Baripada seems to have run into trouble over infrastructure. This was evident after the Assembly Committee’s visit to the MCH on Thursday.
Though the State Government had earlier announced that admission to both Baripada Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital and Koraput Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College will start from this academic session itself, the situation at Baripada MCH appears bleak.
Apparently, Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical is yet to receive the Letter of Permission (LoP) from the Centre. The House Committee visited the MCH and assessed the situation. The panel found shortcomings in infrastructure in the MCH as construction of certain blocks is still going on. They held discussions with the MCH and district administration authorities.
On December 22 last year, a team of Medical Council of India (MCI) had visited Baripada MCH and reviewed the preparedness for beginning classes from 2017-18 academic session. The team had then advised the authorities concerned to speed up work for compliance of all norms set by MCI. However, things have not moved at the desired pace. In case of Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput, the LoP is awaited even as the government has planned to begin classes from this academic year. The date of opening of classes can only be finalised after LoP is received from the Centre, said Dean of the MCH Bijayii Mohapatra, adding that MCI has already recommended opening of the MCH in Koraput. The MCI had submitted compliance verification assessment report of the MCH on April 11 this year to the Centre to issue LoP for annual intake of 100 students to the MCH that would be affiliated to Berhampur University under Section 10A of the IMC Act, 1956 for the academic year 2017-18.