Health and Family Welfare minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today informed the Assembly that Shillong Medical College could begin classes in the 2025-26 academic year.
Speaking during question hour, Lyngdoh said that they are aiming to commence operations in Shillong Medical College in 2025- 26 by upskilling available specialists within the state as faculty and also by leveraging the existing infrastructure at Ganesh Das Maternity and Child Health Hospital and Shillong Civil Hospital.
The minister added that 57 percent of the work has been completed for Tura Medical College. The department is also looking for a suitable and willing organisation to run the medical college on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
However Lyngdoh’s ambitious reply left opposition politicians concerned about whether the timelines were practical.
Nongthymmai MLA and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Charles Pyngrope worried whether the present infrastructure was enough to allow Shillong Medical College to get up and running by 2025.
“If you visit Ganesh Das Hospital, it’s always packed with patients. Some even occupy the corridors to sleep and wait for their turn to deliver their babies,” he said. “It’s an ambitious thing. I’m glad that the college is coming up. But I’m afraid the infrastructure may prove a hurdle to this timeline,” Pyngrope said, to which Lyngdoh assured that inspections will be undertaken.
The deadline for Tura Medical College has been pushed back several times from March 2022 to February and then May 2023. Now, the authorities are targetting June 2024. Lyngdoh said that approach roads, electricity, and other matters need to be addressed at the site.
Responding to a query raised by TMC legislator Miani D Shira, Lyngdoh said that 65 percent of the academic block in Tura is complete, 88 percent of the administrative block and 91 percent of the principal’s residents are complete.
Leader of the opposition, Ronnie V Lyngdoh, of the Congress Party, sought details from the minister about the amount spent by the government to sponsor students to study medicine outside the state since Meghalaya does not have a medical college of its own.
Ronnie emphasised that he was concerned how parents are having to take loans to send their children to pursue MBBS.
The minister assured the house that the government is committed to setting up three medical colleges in the state.
The Tura Medical College project began in December 2014 but the proposed location was too far from the hospital and a new site was then identified and tender approved in 2018 at Rs 243.82 crore. Construction work began in January 2019.
For the Shillong facility, Ganesh Das and Shillong Civil Hospital were required to meet the necessary number of beds that the college has to have access to. It was meant to be run on a PPP model but has now changed to a government-run college.
