3 medical colleges get MCI nod for 350 UG seats
Kolkata: The Medical Council of India (MCI) had granted 350 seats at the undergraduate level at three medical colleges in the state, including a government-run institution.
The newly constructed Diamond Harbour Govt Medical College and Hospital has obtained 100 seats for the academic year 2019-20 while two private medical colleges — ICARE Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Haldia, and Shri Ramkrishna Institute of Medical Sciences and Sanaka Hospitals, Durgapur, have received 100 and 150 MBBS seats each, respectively.
The ICARE Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Haldia, have been granted the seats for five years. After five years, the institute may have to seek an approval to function with the increased number of seat. The other two medical colleges will have to seek permission from the MCI every year before admitting candidates in the added number of seats. The Mamata Banerjee government has set up five new medical colleges in the state to mitigate the crisis of doctors in the state and create new opportunities for medical aspirants.
Apart from Diamond Harbour Government Medical College and Hospital, four other state-run medical colleges are waiting for the MCI's nod to get undergraduate seats for the current academic year.
A senior official of the state Health department said a total of 400 undergraduate medical seats will be created in the four newly constructed medical colleges at Purulia, Rampurhat, Raigunj and Cooch Behar.
In 2016, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the project to set up five new medical colleges in the state.
The Medical Council of India will approve the seats in these in colleges once it gets convinced about the availability of adequate infrastructure.
The MCI has increased medical seats in all the other government-run medical colleges in the state having less than 250 sanctioned seats by 10 per cent on the overall number of seats in MBBS except the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and NRS Medical Colleges and Hospital.
No seats were increased in these two medical colleges in the city as they already have around 250 seats.
After coming to power, Banerjee felt the need to create more opportunities for aspiring medical students. To address the crises in this sector, she announced to come up with more medical colleges in various districts.
According to sources in the state Health department, the combined number of MBBS and BDS seats has increased from 2,205 to 3,750 while the number of post-graduate medical seats has increased from 880 to 1,297. The number of post-doctoral seats has also increased from 107 to 147.
