Centre gave 8 medical colleges: Mangal
2 min readPatna: The Centre has awarded Bihar as many as eight medical colleges in the four years of the Narendra Modi government, Bihar health minister and senior BJP leader Mangal Pandey said on Thursday.
“The Centre gave consent for opening medical colleges in Purnea, Chhapra and Samastipur,” Pandey said while listing out benefits that have accrued to Bihar during Narendra Modi government’s tenure. “The tender process for setting up colleges in Purnea and Chhapra are under way and the state government is looking for suitable land to set up a medical college at Samastipur.”
The state is required to provide at least 25 acres, and that too well connected with all facilities, for opening a medical college. The state health minister said the Centre gave permission for opening of five more medical colleges in Bihar and provision for this was made in the Union budget of 2018-19. The state government has to identify the places where these colleges have to be set up and Pandey said the process was on.
The state government, too, has planned to open new medical colleges at Jhanjharpur, Begusarai, Bhojpur, Sitamarhi and Vaishali under its seven resolves and land for Jhanjharpur, Begusarai and Bhojpur medical colleges had been identified. Pandey said that ortwo medical college for which the Centre has given consent in the current year’s budget may come up at places identified under the seven resolves.
“I can say that Bihar is set to get 11 to 12 new medical colleges because of initiatives taken by the central and state governments,” Pandey said.
He claimed the health sector saw positive changes in the past 12 years and came up with comparative figures.
“The maternal mortality rate stood at 312 in 2005-06 and has now come down to 208. Similarly, the infant mortality rate was 61 in 2005-06 and had now come down to 38,” Pandey said.
He also claimed that by the end of 2018-19, Bihar would figure in the top five states in terms of immunisation of infants as the state was set to cross 90 per cent coverage by then. At present the immunisation rate is 84 per cent, a whooping rise from just 32.5 per cent in 2005-06.
“While 16 districts of Bihar are being covered by the Centre-sponsored Indradhanush programme for immunisation, the remaining 22 districts are being covered by the chief minister’s immunisation programme,” he said.
The health minister also shared details of new facilities being added to the existing medical colleges and hospital in the state and also in the district hospitals.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
