Split land plan for medical college

The vacant land next to the super-speciality hospital in Jalpaiguri. Picture by Biplab Basak

TT, Jalpaiguri, April 7: The district administration has sent a proposal to the state health department to build the treatment wing and the administrative section of the proposed medical college on two different sites in Jalpaiguri town because of unavailability of land at one place.

On March 27, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced here that the government would set up a medical college in the town. The announcement prompted the district administration and the district health officials to scout for 21 acres of land, required to set up the health facility.

"Here, we have the district hospital and the super-specialty hospital located on two different sites. But 21 acres of land are not available at either of these locations. That is why, in consultation with the district health officials, we have sent a proposal to the state health department, mentioning that the vacant land located close to both the health establishments could be used for building the infrastructure of the medical college," Jagannath Sarkar, the chief medical officer of health of Jalpaiguri, said.

In the proposal, they have mentioned that the treatment wing of the medical college could be set up on one site while the administrative wing could be built in the other area.

As of now, there are 700 beds at the district hospital and another 500 beds at the super-specialty hospital. However, the second hospital is yet to start functioning in a full fledged manner.

"There is a vacant plot close to the super-specialty hospital and altogether, around 16 acres are available there. There is also a similar vacant land close to the district hospital and the Institute of Pharmacy. So, if the infrastructure is segregated, the college can easily come up in Jalpaiguri. Otherwise, we will have to search for a new location and it is quite tough to get a huge patch of government land in the town," an official said.

District health officials said the infrastructure at the district hospital could serve as the hospital wing of the medical college.

"The hospital wing that involves treatment of patients should be at one place. Otherwise, regular healthcare activities will be affected," an official said.