Chandigarh’s second medical college to be on 15 Sarangpur acres

CHANDIGARH: Finally, the city will have a second medical college, for which administrator V P Singh Badnore has consented to allot 15 acres in Sarangpur’s Education City. Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, will run this affiliate institute of Panjab University.
The college’s estimated annual expenditure on salary and related components is Rs 13 crore. Its 50 seats will be expanded to 100, later. For the first two years, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, will conduct the classes, and when the new building is ready, GMSH-16 will take over from the third and fourth years. The new college will follow the GMCH’s admission and reservation policy.
The urban planning department wanted a site in Sector 53 of south Chandigarh but the administrator, highest authority, found Sarangpur more suitable. The land approval, a copy of which is with TOI, says: “The case is submitted to the UT administrator with reference to a demi-official letter from Union health minster Dr Harsh Vardhan and a meeting held in the UT secretariat. Held under the chairmanship of the administrator and attended by the UT adviser, the meeting was to seek administrative approval for 10 to 15 acres, keeping in view the future expansion and increase in the MBBS (bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery) seats, so that a DPR (detailed project report) can be submitted at the earliest.”
Besides the creation of teaching posts for the new college, members of the clinical faculty and the resident doctors of GMSH can be adjusted for clinical subjects, if they fulfil the MCI (Medical Council of India) norms. Since it is UT’s own project, the authority won’t have to bear the cost of land, which is about Rs 750 crore. The engineering department is yet to prepare the financial component but sources said the construction cost will be Rs 400-500 crore.
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Minister wrote to Badnore in 2019
In December 2019, Union health minster Dr Harsh Vardhan wrote to UT administrator V P Singh Badnore for building a medical college in the city. The letter reads: “My ministry is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme, namely ‘establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing/referral hospital’. Phase III of the scheme has been approved in August 2019 to build 75 more medical colleges, with preference to aspirational districts. All states and UTs were required to identify the district/referral hospital… for the scheme… and submit proposal along with detailed project report (DPR). The ministry intends to make the college functional by the session 2022-23. Kindly look into the matter personally and arrange to expedite submission of proposal along with DPR.”