Puri: Classes at the proposed government medical college here are unlikely to commence in 2019-20 academic year due to several bottlenecks, including delay in construction work for the mega project.
A private agency, which has been engaged to construct the buildings for the medical college, has been told to complete the work by August 2018. However, the Health department will face a herculean task to get the mandatory Medical Council of India (MCI) nod for the medical college and appoint doctors, health staff and other officials for it by 2019, said a source.
Following an announcement by the state government for opening up of a 100-seat medical college in the Pilgrim City a couple of years ago, 25 acres have been identified at Samang mouza. The land was under the ownership of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). The government had provided 25 acre land to the temple administration elsewhere, sources said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the college July 4, 2015. Construction and all other works for the Rs 205-crore healthcare facility were supposed to be completed by March 2017 and classes were scheduled to be commenced from 2017-18 academic year. However, work for the project could not be taken up due to delay in transfer of land to the private construction company and problems in supplying power to the land.
Finally, construction work for the project was initiated in March last year. At present, the construction company is building a five-storey building, a 650-seat auditorium, hostels for students and a mortuary for the health institute. “The Health department has asked the construction company to complete the project by August 2018. However, no step was taken to review the project regularly and expedite the work,” said a social activist.
Moreover, the Health department is yet to set up a hospital for the medical college. Initially, there was a proposal to upgrade the district headquarters hospital (DHH) for the purpose. However, the proposal was subsequently abandoned over infrastructure issues. “Classes at the medical college cannot be commenced in the absence of a hospital,” claimed a source.
However, Health Minister Pratap Jena said students of the medical college would use the DHH initially for a couple of years. “We will take a call on setting up of a hospital after three years’ of the medical college inauguration,” Jena added.
PNN