Mohali medical college gets NMC’s nod

Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 26

In a major milestone towards imparting quality medical education to students across the state, the Punjab Government will soon operationalise Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali.

8% faculty shortage

• The National Medical Commission has asked the medical college to recruit more faculty as a deficiency of eight per cent was found during an inspection
• The Chief Minister has asked the officials concerned to complete the necessary formalities at the earliest so that the academic session at the institute could be started at the earliest.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) had, after examining the commission assessor’s report, granted the Letter of Permission (LoP) for starting regular classes at Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences affiliated under Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.

CM Channi said the decision of the NMC to allocate 100 seats to the institute will go a long way in ensuring quality medical education and research to the students besides providing best healthcare facilities at affordable rates to the people in the region.

Channi said the process of recruiting the required staff for the institute is already underway. He said the state-of-the art medical institution is already equipped with all infrastructural requirements in terms of buildings, equipment and hospital facilities as per the NMC Medical Commission norms. He said adequate budgetary requirements for institute as and when desired by the commission will also be made by the state government.

He asked officials to complete the necessary formalities at the earliest for starting the academic session in the institute at the earliest.

The NMC had asked the college to recruit more faculty as a deficiency of eight per cent was found during the inspection.

Alok Shekhar, Principal Secretary, Department of Medical Education and Research, said as per a letter received by the department, Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, accredited by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, has been awarded approval by the NMC for the academic year 2021-22.

The idea of Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences was conceived in one of the first cabinet meetings of this government in 2017 but it remained a non-starter. The college was constructed under a Government of India’s scheme to allow 50 new medical colleges (in the district hospitals which had more than 200 beds) in the country. However, all other 49 started functioning much earlier, only Mohali medical college remained a non-starter.