Answering questions about the plans of the state government to start the new session, Principal Secretary, Medical Education, D K Tiwari said, work has been delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, but the college is prepared to start its first session from this year. (Representational)
The state government has made all the preparations for commencing the first session of Dr B R Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Science from this year. However, the dates for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) are yet to be announced.
The medical college will function in the existing buildings of Civil Hospital and Punjab Health Systems Corporations in Phase VI and former director of PGIMER, KK Talwar has been appointed the director of the institute.
Answering questions about the plans of the state government to start the new session, Principal Secretary, Medical Education, D K Tiwari said, work has been delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, but the college is prepared to start its first session from this year.
He added that the examination dates of NEET have not been declared yet and the admission process will start only after the declaration of NEET results which will be done on a national level.
Punjab’s Medical Education Minister O P Soni told The Indian Express that there has been some delay due to the curfew in the state, but they were well prepared for commencing the session.
“The process of interviewing the staff will soon be completed. The government has been working to develop adequate infrastructure for the educational institute,” the minister said. The Punjab government had earlier sanctioned 100 MBBS seats for the first batch of the college, which the officials said, will be developed on the lines of GMCH in Sector 32.
The medical college is coming up at a cost of around Rs 300 crore with the expenses incurred in a 60:40 ratio by the state government and the Centre. The project was sanctioned in 2012 and had got delayed due to the various hurdles over the years.
In the previous year, the academic session of the college was cancelled due to technical issues, officials said.