On Wednesday, the Center released INR 260 crores to the Jammu and Kashmir Health and Medical Education department for setting five new medical colleges in the state.
Atal Dullo, Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education said “with the latest release of funds by the Center, the cumulative release of central share for these colleges at Anantnag, Baramulla, Doda, Kathua and Rajouri, till date has reached Rs. 765 crore”.
He further said that the Union ministry of Health and Family Welfare has sanctioned INR 189 crores for each medical college of which INR 139 crore will be used for the civil works and INR 50 crore will be used for the machinery and equipment. He said “the civil works in all these medical colleges are at different levels of progress and have been expedited of late to put the requisite infrastructure in place at the earliest”.
He further said that the department is taking steps to provide infrastructure, equipment and human resource as per the guidelines of Medical Council of India (MCI) and the first batch of MBBS will commence from next year.
He said that with the new medical colleges in the state, each year, 500 additional MBBS students will be able to graduate from the state.