Tamil Nadu’s Health department has initiated the process of identifying land to establish six new government medical colleges. The Joint Directors of Health Services were instructed to coordinate with the respective District Collectors to identify 25 acres of land as well as collate details of existing manpower and equipment in the Government District Headquarters Hospitals in the respective districts.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said that the State has submitted nearly 20 letters to the Union government including to the Union Health Ministry seeking nod to establish six new medical colleges over the last two years. The Minister had sought approval to set up the colleges in Perambalur, Mayiladuthurai, Tenkasi, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Kancheepuram during a meeting with the Union Health Minister in New Delhi in 2022.
“We are waiting for the approval to take it forward to the National Medical Commission (NMC). We have already started to identify land for the purpose. The NMC had earlier brought in a regulation to cap MBBS seats based on population following which the Chief Minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister. This condition was later deferred,” he said.
Official sources in the department pointed out that the State did not receive any reply from the Union Health Ministry, while some queries that were raised on certain conditions of the NMC were left unanswered or remained vague. The official sources hinted that before it was deferred, NMC’s condition of 100 MBBS seats per 10 lakh population at the State-level impeded the process.
“We will be seeking NMC’s approval for the six colleges when the window for applications opens for the year,” an official said. He added that land was already identified in some of the districts, while the process is on for the others.
In a circular issued earlier last week, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research said that following a discussion during a meeting with the Chief Secretary, it was decided to establish new medical colleges in a phased manner through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for “Establishment of new medical college attached with existing district/referral hospital”. During the meeting, NMC norms for establishing new colleges, service delivery details of the six government headquarters hospitals proposed for conversion to a medical college and its status of land availability were discussed.
The Joint Directors were asked to furnish the required details to prepare and submit a Detailed Project Report to the government.
However, the circular is ambiguous in mentioning Arakkonam as one of the locations for the new college instead of the earlier proposed Kancheepuram. Arakkonam is a part of Ranipet district.
Tamil Nadu presently has 36 government medical colleges, and is seeking another six based on a scheme to have one government medical college in each district.
