The upcoming PA Sangma International Medical College will hold its first classes for the first batch of the MBBS course in 2025, University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) Chancellor and chairman of ERD Foundation Mahbubul Hoque said today.
The foundation of the teaching hospital, to be set up by the USTM and ERD Foundation, was laid by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma earlier this month.
“By July 2024, the construction of the hospital will be completed. The foundation work has already begun. By October 2024, the commencement of hospital activities will take place. Classes for the first batch of MBBS are expected to commence from August 2025,” Hoque said while addressing a brainstorming session at USTM on healthcare and its challenges.
He also said that he is looking for talented doctors from three different viewpoints: patient care, teaching and research.
Hoque said that, during the initial two years, experts will be involved in healthcare seminars, workshops, conferences and training sessions organised by USTM and there will be a collaboration with healthcare institutions, and doctors of all districts of the North East will be connected though healthcare activities and also specialised training outside the country.
“This process of brainstorming with eminent doctors will continue in the future to smoothen the road ahead for establishing the hospital and thereafter the medical college,” he added.
The 250-bed super speciality hospital will have all kinds of technological facilities with cutting-edge research and will offer free treatment for poor patients and all Meghalaya patients.
Based in Meghalaya, the institute will target patients and medical students from ASEAN countries.
More than 50 eminent and progressive doctors participated in a vibrant brainstorming session at the USTM to understand the issues and challenges to start the PA Sangma International Medical College and Hospital.
The session was organised by USTM on various aspects with the objective to get suggestions and guidance from the healthcare experts so that healthcare initiatives can be taken care of by the university in their upcoming mega project.
The doctors’ community present in the brainstorming offered valuable suggestions regarding the medical project and showed high interest in being associated with this noble healthcare mission.