Guwahati: The Assam government on Friday signed an MoU with Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd. for the infrastructure development of the academic block of the second medical college in Guwahati.
Commissioner and Secretary to the government of Assam Siddharth Singh and Promoter & Founder of Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd. Radhakishnan Damani signed the MoU in presence of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“The signing of MoU between the Government of Assam and Bright Star Investments Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai will herald a new beginning in Assam’s medical education,” Chief Minister Sarma said.
It is for the first time that the Assam government has collaborated with the private sector for building the infrastructure of a medical college in the state.
Assam government has taken up the task of establishing a second Medical College in Guwahati with the provision of 1000 bedded hospital and academic block with hostels for boys and girls for 100 annual intake MBBS students.
Resultantly Bright Star Investments Pvt Limited has come up with a CSR contribution of Rs 150 crore for infrastructure development of the Academic Block, UG and Intern Hostels of this Medical College.
Chief Minister Dr. Sarma said the government has taken steps for setting up 15 new medical colleges in addition to the nine existing ones.
“Out of the 15 new medical colleges, seven medical colleges are being constructed at Nalbari, Nagaon, Kokrajhar, Tinsukia, Charaideo, Biswanath Chariali and the second Medical College at Guwahati,” he said.
The government is going to start the construction of five more medical colleges at Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Marigaon, Tamulpur and Dhemaji during this month and work for three more medical colleges proposed at Sivasagar, Karimganj and Goalpara will be taken up very soon.
In the next five years, Assam will have a total of 24 Medical Colleges, greatly improving the availability of doctors and medical care in the state.
The Chief Minister also said with the increase in medical colleges in the State, the number of MBBS seats has also increased from 726 in 2014 to 1200 in 2022.
“Till 2014 total Post Graduate (PG) seats in Assam was 395. In 2022 the total number of PG seats has increased to 711. The availability of doctors has therefore improved significantly. Similarly, 44 super-specialty seats are now available in various institutions under the Govt of Assam.
“Moreover, when construction of proposed medical colleges gets completed, the state will have 2700 MBBS seats, thereby significantly enhancing opportunity for medical education in Assam,” Sarma added.