Minister: Central nod to Hoshiarpur medical college

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, January 2

The Centre has granted approval to a proposal of opening a government medical college in Hoshiarpur.

Industries and Commerce Minister and Hoshiarpur MLA Sunder Sham Arora said the Kandi area had received a major project, as the Centre had given a nod to the recommendation of the state government and documentation would be completed within a couple of days.

Arora thanked Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for selecting Hoshiarpur project and providing a New Year’s gift to the area. He also thanked Minister for Medical Education and Research OP Soni.

The Cabinet Minister said all this had become possible due to forward thinking of the Chief Minister, who, despite the present situation of the state, had got the file of the project cleared from the Finance Department.

He said the medical college, whose expenditure was estimated to be at Rs325 crore, would benefit Hoshiarpur as well as other districts and people of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

Arora said Hoshiarpur was the most suitable place for the medical college, as it fulfilled the requirements for the medical college. All conditions had been fulfilled as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of Indian (MCI).

Arora said with the opening of the college, students in Hoshiarpur and nearby areas would not have to go far to pursue MBBS and MD. In addition, there would be better healthcare facilities for people of the district, which had been a long-pending demand of the residents.

He said the state government had fulfilled every demand of Hoshiarpur on priority. The Centre had laid a condition that the medical college would be opened only at the district headquarters, where there was a 200-bed government hospital. Another condition was the requirement of 20 acres of land. The Hoshiarpur Civil Hospital met the condition of 200 beds and it also had 12 acres of land, however, the remaining 8 acres of land is with the Tourism Department of Boothgarh village.