Konkan set to get its first government medical college in Alibaug

The proposed college site in Usar village, Alibaug

If all goes as per plans, Konkan region will soon get its first government medical college in Alibaug. The college is expected to be launched with 100 seats in the next academic year 2021-22 for first-year MBBS students and is slated to have a 500-bed hospital too. A 53-acre plot of land has been reserved for the college in Usar Village, Alibaug-Roha road with the cost pegged at R639 crore. The project is expected to be completed in three years.

In a meeting chaired by Guardian Minister Aditi Tatkare on Wednesday, it was decided that a panel from the National Medical Commission (NMC) will inspect the site. The commission regulates medical education and medical professionals. An Indian regulatory body of 33 members, which regulates medical education and medical professionals, NMC has come into force from September 25, 2020, thereby repealing the nearly 64-year-old Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.

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Dr T P Lahane, director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, said, "The newly-formed NMC will visit the state for the first time, probably in January 2021. We are hoping to get sanctions to begin first-year MBBS classes from the academic year 2021-22." "The NMC will also visit Sindhudurg and Satara, where similar government medical colleges with a capacity of 100 MBBS seats are expected to start in 2021-22. We are also hoping for a similar college to come up in Osmanabad by 2022-23," Dr Lahane added.

There are 19 government medical colleges and four civic-run medical colleges in the different districts of the state, which has total of 35 districts. Currently, there are 4,370 first-year MBBS seats and 2,355 post-graduate seats available in the existing government colleges.

Dr Girish Thakur, former deputy dean at Government Medical College, Latur, has been appointed as the dean for the college in Alibaug. Dr Thakur said, "We have secured permits from the state health department and the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik. The college's infrastructure work will begin after NMC's approval. The proposed site is within a 10-km radius from the civil hospital."

Dr Thakur added, "The college will use the existing 330-bed civil hospital facility, which will gradually be increased to 500 beds. Eventually, post-graduate courses will be introduced. This will be Konkan region's first government medical college. It will provide employment to hundreds of people."

Dream project: Tatkare
Tatkare said, "It has been my father Sunil Tatkare's dream for Alibaug to have a government medical college for 10 years. We are completing all documentation required by the NMC ahead of the inspection. We are also looking for places near the civil hospital for temporary arrangements for classrooms, laboratories, living quarters. The construction is expected to be completed in three years from commencement." "The Public Works Department will float tenders and carry out the construction. Also, I am also keen on having a 100-bed hospital for women and children within the medical college campus in the future," Tatkare added.

639
Estimated cost of the project in rupees crore

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