South Goa likely to get medical college

NT NETWORK

Panaji

Stating that the central government has in-principle agreed to approve additional medical colleges to Goa, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said that the state government is considering starting a new medical college in Margao in South Goa district.

“The central government recently took a decision to set up 75 medical colleges in the country and we are looking to get a top-class medical college institution in Margao. We will take a call whether it would be private or government only after consulting Chief Minister Pramod Sawant,” said Rane while speaking to this daily.

He said that the proposed college will result in additional MBBS and other medical seats in the state that would benefit Goans, who wish to pursue medical studies to become doctors.

Rane said that land admeasuring ten acres has been identified close to the new district hospital in Margao where the government intends to set up the medical college.

“As per the norms, in order to set up a new medical college, it is mandatory to have at least a 600-bedded hospital linked to it and the college has to be within a specific distance from the hospital. Hence, we have thought of scrapping the plan to set up the nursing institute and instead consider increasing the capacity of the new district hospital up to 750-800 beds in Margao,” he said.

The state’s premier medical institute, Goa Medical College at Bambolim, has a total of 180 MBBS seats, 128 postgraduates and 110 seats for allied health science courses. The hospital has a total of 1,350 beds.

Rane said that a team of Union Health Ministry had

recently visited the state and claimed that the team was happy with the progress Goa has made in providing healthcare to the people.

“The central government has agreed to give us additional medical colleges, maximum two, but one for sure,” he said.

The Health Minister said that he is in constant touch with Secretary Health, government of India, and also Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. He said, “We will pursue this in a transparent manner and ensure that it will help in increasing the medical seats and most importantly taking care of the patients in a much better way as far as South Goa is concerned.”