Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday inaugurated the state's 17th medical college and hospital at Bongaigaon, saying the state has witnessed a major expansion in medical education since the BJP-led government came to power in 2016.
He also inaugurated the Bongaigaon Integrated District Commissioner's Office and virtually unveiled a model residential school at Kacharipara in Abhayapuri, upgraded infrastructure of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Adarsha College at Tulungia, upgraded infrastructure of Sri Sri Raghunath Bigraha Mandir Satra at Srijangram and a model secondary school at Birjhara Tea Estate.
Sarma also virtually unveiled a statue of Maharaj Naranarayan at Bongaigaon Bisarjan Ghat.
The projects inaugurated by the chief minister, including the medical college, involved a total expenditure of around Rs 711 crore.
Addressing a public meeting at Majgaon in Bongaigaon, Sarma said Assam had only three medical colleges in the nearly six decades after Independence.
Recalling his first tenure as a minister in the Assam government in 2001, he said despite travelling to different parts of the state, he had never received a request for setting up a new medical college.
Subsequently, the state government established medical colleges in Jorhat, Tezpur and Barpeta, he said.
Sarma said after the BJP-led government came to power in Assam in 2016, it adopted a proposal to establish a medical college in every district in phases.
The Bongaigaon Medical College and Hospital is a result of this initiative and was constructed at a cost of around Rs 611 crore.
The institution has a 430-bed hospital, an academic block, hostels for students and nurses and other supporting infrastructure.
He said construction of medical colleges was currently underway at Charaideo, Biswanath Chariali, Golaghat, Morigaon, Tamulpur, Dhemaji, Sivasagar, Sribhumi and Goalpara.
In addition, the state government has taken an in-principle decision to establish medical colleges in Bajali, Hailakandi, Hojai and Majuli in phases, he said.
The chief minister said the increase in the number of medical colleges had taken the total number of MBBS seats in the state to more than 2,000.
Referring to the commitment made during the last Assembly election to establish a university, a medical college and an engineering college in every district, he said Bongaigaon College had already been upgraded into a university, and the people of the area would soon have an engineering college as well.
He also affirmed his government's commitment to the development of Bongaigaon on all fronts.
Earlier, after formally inaugurating the Bongaigaon Medical College and Hospital, the chief minister addressed students enrolled at the institution.
He said, on average, two new medical colleges would become operational every year over the next five years, and the total number would reach 30 by 2032.
He added that there was also scope for private medical colleges to come up in the state during this period.
Sarma stressed that alongside increasing the number of medical college seats, equal emphasis must be placed on producing quality doctors.
He said every patient provides a doctor with a new experience in diagnosing and treating an illness, and urged the students to focus on their studies and thoroughly analyse the health-related concerns of every patient who comes to them for treatment.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.