The Maharashtra government has planned three new medical colleges to cater to the ever increasing demand of students wanting to enter the medical profession. Two of these colleges will be set up in the Naxal-affected districts of Gadchiroli and Gondia.
“The proposal for three new medical colleges will be presented before the cabinet. As there are no medical colleges in the Gadchiroli and Gondia districts, we have planned to start medical colleges with 100 cot-hospitals in these regions,” said Dr Vijaykumar Gavit, minister, medical education. The third medical hospital will be set up in western Maharashtra.
Each of these hospitals will cost around `300 to `400 crore, inclusive of development of infrastructure for setting up colleges, as well as hostel facilities for students. The state will have to bear the cost initially and the same will be reimbursed by the Centre, informed the official. The third hospital, the location of which will soon be finalised, will also have a similar capacity.
There are more than two dozen medical colleges including private colleges offering MBBS course in the state. A host of other institutions run medical courses such as BDS (approximately 250 seats), Ayurvedic BAMS (1,050 around seat), Unani BUMS (150 seats), and other medical and para-medical courses such as audio and speech therapy, telysical medicine and rehabilitation, etc. However, most of these colleges are concentrated in cities like Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Dhule, Kolhapur, and Wardha.