07 April,2015 02:15 PM IST | | Sadaguru Pandit
New facilities for undergraduate students and medical officers will be situated close to Sion, Nair and KEM hospitals; BMC has already cleared the proposal and increase in number of wards is also on the cards
Medical students around the country looking at getting admitted in the three city medical colleges will no longer face residential woes. Sion, Nair and KEM hospitals and medical institutes are set to build three new sprawling residential hostels.
While the plan has been passed by the BMC, the hospitals are now in the process of coming up with a design that will accommodate the graduate students as well as offer them a comfortable residential environment.
The decision has come due to the need for expansion of space for medical use, and for providing residential facilities to resident medical officers (RMOs) and post-graduate students within the hospital premises. Locations selected for the new buildings have been chosen on the basis of distance from the hospitals as well as places available with the BMC.
KEM Hospital
The new locations at Ackworth Hospital for KEM Hospital and Willingdon Gymkhana premises for Nair and Sion hospitals are said to accommodate around 1,200, 1,000 and 700 undergraduate students respectively. The KEM facility will have 15-16 floors divided into four sections, and will be equipped with a gym, sports court, open air auditorium, etc.
The deans of the colleges confirmed that more space would be required due to the increasing number of patients dependent on the hospitals. "A large section of society is dependent on public hospitals for treatment. At the same time, due to the experienced doctors and top-notch services, the number of people coming to avail treatment is increasing daily.
We will need to have more space for the medical services and increase the number of wards. While doing so, we have to take care that our post-graduate students and RMOs stay close to the hospitals because they need to be there during of emergencies.
Hence, we had sent the proposal, which has been passed by the BMC," said Avinash Supe, dean, KEM Hospital. The hostel plan is still in process. The deans confirmed that apart from providing a comfortable stay to the students, the new hostels would have multiple facilities like gymnasiums, study rooms and garden areas for the students.
Second, those staying at hired spaces far from the institutes will be relieved, as they will escape the travel woes. Currently, many KEM undergraduate students have been staying in different areas near Sewri and Elphinstone Road due to unavailability of space.
