Tamil Nadu: 11 Govt medical colleges to get 700-bed hospitals

The centre had already permitted the state to start 11 new medical colleges as a part of the national mission to initiate a significant hike in the number of medical colleges across the country. Initially, the government started the medical colleges with the help of district hospitals. However, soon all the hospitals are going to get a 700-bed capacity.

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Government Krishnagiri Medical College Hospital is going to be the first institute to be upgraded to a 700-bed hospital this Saturday, after which Tiruvallur Medical College Hospital is going to be converted into a 700-bedded hospital on Sunday. "Soon, all medical college hospitals will have a treating hospital with at least 700 beds," he said before chairing the day-long review meeting of his department.

The services of all the departments, including the department of cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, nephrology, and urology, will all be available in these facilities. Bringing tertiary care services to remote communities is the goal behind upgrading the hospitals. The government considered the fact that to receive treatment for some diseases, the patients from far-off villages now go to Chennai, Salem, Coimbatore, Trichy, Tirunelveli, or Madurai. In the meantime, the Directorate of Medical Education plans to initiate diploma programmes in postgraduate courses in all of these colleges. "It may not be possible to start PG degree courses immediately. Instead of waiting for degrees, we will start diploma courses first," said the director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu.

All positions of Deans in medical colleges have just been filled, and the openings for vice principal, resident medical officer, assistant resident medical officer, and medical superintendent will follow soon. The state will select locations for 25 new PHCs and 25 new UPHCs that were approved by the centre in addition to reviewing the development of buildings for more than 700 wellness clinics that were inspired by the clinics in Delhi, reports Times of India. "District health officials have identified places for the establishment of these centres. We will discuss and analyse them in the meeting before finalising the locations," added Dr R Narayanababu.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated 11 new medical colleges and a new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) in Tamil Nadu today through video conference in January. The new Districts Medical Colleges are being established are Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Thiruvallur, Nagapattinam, Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Ramanathapuram and Krishnagiri.

The establishment of these medical colleges is in line with the Prime Minister's constant endeavour to promote affordable medical education and improve health infrastructure in all parts of the country. The new medical colleges, with a cumulative capacity of 1450 seats, are being established under the Centrally Sponsored scheme of 'Establishing of New Medical Colleges attached with existing district/referral hospital'.