The state government is in the process of identifying a new plot of land to set up a medical college in Shillong, Health and Family Welfare Minister James PK Sangma said today.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said that the government will open a new tender for interested private parties to partner with.
An earlier agreement with KPC Medical College from Kolkata has been scrapped. Meghalaya and KPC had signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a 500-bed hospital and medical college in Shillong back in 2012.
“We understand the importance of having a medical college in our state because so many of our students have to go out of the state to pursue their career in medicine,” Sangma said. “Understanding the emergency, we feel that we must go ahead and ensure that the Shillong Medical College should come about as early as possible.”
Although former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma had laid the foundation stone for the college on the grounds of the Reid Chest Hospital in Jhalupara in 2017, the current government decided to move the site to Umsawli.
However, the Medical Council of India’s guidelines state that 20 acres of land are required for a medical college but the Umsawli plot is only 17 acres. Sangma said today that the Chief Minister had committed another plot that will be sufficiently large.
