Work on RGUHS regional centre to kick off soon: VC

Mangaluru: Work on the proposed regional centre mooted by the Bengaluru-based Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) could not take off for the past two years for administrative reasons and the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it will soon become a reality.
The regional centre in Mangaluru will aid academic activities and also become a boon to the managements of medical education institutions, who have to go to Bengaluru for official work. The centre will come up on a piece of two-acre land near Maryhill, said Dr MK Ramesh, vice-chancellor, RGUHS. Work on the proposed regional centre could not take off due to the pandemic, as well as the fact that RGUHS had no permanent head for a long period. Ramesh assumed charge as the ninth VC of RGUHS this February. “The work will begin soon and the tender process is on. The regional centre project in Mangaluru will be taken up on a priority basis,” Ramesh added.
The regional centre will have a digital evaluation centre, a digital library, and a 250-seat auditorium. The centre will also have an affiliation centre, finance and admission sections, and a student welfare department. A deputy registrar, assisted by an assistant registrar, will head the centre.
A former syndicate member of RGUHS pointed out that, according to previous plans, the total cost of the centre was Rs 45 crore. Now, it is down to Rs 35 crore. The work was also delayed as there were a few major changes to the earlier plan. In the initial plan, a swimming pool was proposed. But that had to be junked due to a few regulation issues. Meanwhile, a first-of-its-kind dental research lab was proposed at the Mangaluru regional centre, and now it has been moved to RGUHS’s Bheemanakuppe campus in Bengaluru.