BHUBANESWAR: One more government medical college in Odisha will be made functional soon with the National Medical Commission (NMC) giving its nod for starting admission of students from 2021-22 academic session.Built at a cost of around `300 crore on an area of 33 acre, the Sri Jagannath Medical College and Hospital (SJMCH) at Puri is the eighth government medical college in the State. The college will have an intake capacity of 100 students per year.
Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Dr CBK Mohanty inspected the newly developed infrastructure of the college on Wednesday. “The five-storey building, including classrooms, administrative office, laboratory and library, is ready. The only work left is the approach road to the building. We expect the classes to commence from the next academic session”, he said.
As mandated under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the district headquarters hospital (DHH) will be linked to the medical college for clinical activities. Accordingly, the DHH has been upgraded.Dr Mohanty said a separate hospital will be developed later for which the State government has already made budgetary provisions.
Once the SJMCH is made operational, the overall intake capacity of eight medical colleges in the State will be 1,350 in the government set up besides 700 in the private set up.At present, seven government and four private MCHs are functioning in the State apart from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Two more medical colleges are also coming up at Phulbani in Kandhamal and Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the government has applied for the Letter of Permission (LoP) for starting admission at SJMCH from the 2021-22 session. “The NMC will grant permission after physical verification. The construction activities have been completed. We hope the Central team will visit soon and issue the LoP”, he added.