Government Medical College approved in Udhampur, 100 MBBS seats to be added

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council on Friday accorded approval to the establishment of a new government medical college in Udhampur which is scheduled to be completed by 2024-25, officials said.

The upcoming medical college at Udhampur will improve the doctor-patient ratio in Jammu and Kashmir as the intake capacity of MBBS students will increase by 100 seats, they said.

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"The Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today accorded administrative approval to the establishment of new GMC in Udhampur. The project will be completed by 2024-25," an official spokesperson said.

The Union Health Ministry under its centrally-sponsored scheme had earlier sanctioned establishment of two new GMCs at Kupwara and Udhampur, each for Rs. 325.00 Crore, the spokesperson said.

This will cater to the ever-increasing patient load, and bring improvement in the medical services at secondary level of treatment in the region, the official added.

Availability of quality medical services at the district headquarter will also reduce the response time for medical emergencies, trauma cases, minimize inconvenience, decrease IMR/MMR, and increase the life expectancy, the spokesperson said.

Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, advisor to L-G, J-K chief secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, and Nitishwar Kumar, principal secretary to L-G attended the meeting.

In another decision, the AC also approved the transfer of administrative control of two nursing colleges in Jammu and Srinagar to the Health and Medical Education department.

These B.Sc nursing colleges were established in 2016 by the Higher Education department, one at Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and another in Government College for Women, M.A Road, Srinagar.

The first batch of the course started in September 2019. However, the teaching faculty for the medical curriculum in these colleges was being provided by the Health and Medical Education department.

The aim of opening these colleges was to provide technical education in the health sector especially to the female students of both the divisions and address the shortage of human resource and promote women empowerment.

To provide sectoral expertise to the nursing colleges, the Administrative Council has approved the transfer of the administrative control to the Health and Medical Education Department, the spokesperson said.

With this decision, all incomes and expenses of these colleges will now be accounted in the budget of Health and Medical Education department, the official said.

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