Efforts to create requisite infrastructure for the proposed government medical colleges at Ramagundam and Kothagudem in the State’s coal belt region have gathered momentum with the departments concerned stepping up efforts to develop facilities in an expeditious manner.
The State government has already submitted applications to the Medical Council of India (MCI) seeking its nod for setting up a total of eight new government medical colleges one each at Jagtial, Mancherial, Mahabubabad, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Sangareddy, Kothagudem and Ramagundam.
The new medical colleges with an intake of 150 MBBS seats each are expected to be operationalised next year, sources said.
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A site at the Government Degree and PG College in the coal town of Godavarikhani in Ramagundam mandal has been tentatively identified for establishment of the proposed medical college.
Sources added that efforts were on to ensure speedy construction of the buildings for the proposed college and hostels, upgradation of the facilities at the district/referral hospital to maintain the requisite bed strength as per the stipulated norms.
The authorities have drawn up plans to speed up the process of creating the infrastructure and recruiting the faculty and other staff for all the proposed new medical colleges in view of the likely visit of teams from the MCI to inspect the physical infrastructure next month.
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Bhadradri-Kothagudem Collector D. Anudeep on Sunday inspected the site earmarked for construction of the proposed government medical college as well as nursing college at the University College of Engineering (formerly Kothagudem School of Mines) located at old Palvancha, about 6 km from the district headquarters town of Kothagudem.
He reviewed the progress of works related to the proposed nursing college building for which the government has already sanctioned ₹5 crore.
He directed the officials concerned to ensure expeditious completion of the ongoing works by the first week of December.
Plans are afoot to set up 100 beds each at the proposed nursing college building and the existing Mother & Child Health Block at Ramavaram and 130 beds at the district headquarters hospital in Kothagudem to meet the requirement of 330 bed strength for the proposed medical college, sources added.
The State government’s decision to set up the government medical college in the tribal dominated district drew wide appreciation from various quarters as the move is likely to expand medical education opportunities, augment public health care infrastructure and provide super-speciality services in the underserved areas.