There are challenges peculiar to Meghalaya that are slowing down the creation of medical institutions in the state, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said today.
However, she expressed hope that there will come a time when the state will be able to raise medical institutions and facilities for its people.
The unique challenges, according to the minister, relate to the availability of land, expertise and the willingness of professionals to work in Meghalaya, etc.
According to her, it should be seen whether the state has senior doctors willing to become professors or if there is a policy to raise the retirement age of the state’s doctors to 65, like in other states. She also asked if the state has experts in administration to help the government run these institutions.
Lyngdoh also said that a government-run medical college will be far more challenging. That is why the government of Meghalaya is contemplating on public-private partnerships (PPPs) with other institutions that have done well and excelled in running medical colleges.
Coming to the current status of planned medical colleges in Tura and Shillong, she said that the Tura Medical College is well advanced in its infrastructure building and the government has made up for all the time lost during Covid-19.
On the Shillong Medical College, the minister said that the government will be floating the Expression of Interest (EOI) for upgradation of certain facilities.
“We must not shy away from the challenges that we face and we must also remember that all set and done there may be a wish but on its own it cannot result. There has to be a will and it has to be a coordinated effort of citizens along with the government to ensure that if tomorrow we bring in a medical college in Shillong it should be state of the art,” Lyngdoh said.
She informed that she has requested officers to immediately draw a line as to what is the status of each of the medical colleges.
Lyngdoh also said that she will sit with her cabinet colleagues to get all the necessary assistance that is required in order to meet the norms for the start of the medical college.
