Work to upgrade Barasat district hospital to a medical college is likely to be completed by the end of this year. Apart from Barasat, three other medical colleges are coming up at Jhargram, Tomluk (East Midnapore) and Arambag (Hooghly) to strengthen the health infrastructure in the state.
The construction to set up new medical colleges started last year following the announcement by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She laid stress on infrastructure development in the districts to ensure that people are not forced to go to cities to address their medical needs.
Banerjee adopted a two-pronged approach for development of health sector. She announced that the new medical colleges in the state would not only to provide better health services but would also have sufficient doctors.
Sources in the state health department said that construction was going at a full swing at Barasat district hospital and other three medical colleges. Patients from various parts of North 24-Parganas and adjoining district of Nadia visit the Barasat hospital on a regular basis. People will be able to avail better health care facilities after the medical college becomes operational.
The Bengal government had urged the Centre to increase the number of medical seats in the state. Setting up a number of medical colleges was the first step taken by the state government in this direction. There has been a dearth of doctors in various state-run hospitals and the problem can only be solved if the state can produce more doctors every year. The state government cannot increase the number of MBBS seats in a medical college on its own unless they are approved by the Medical Council of India which is the sanctioning authority.
