Central funds for health infrastructure - Nadda announces Rs 189cr each for upgrade of five district hospitals to medical colleges

Union health minister JP Nadda in Siliguri.
Picture by Kundan Yolmo

TT, Siliguri, June 26: Union health minister J.P. Nadda today announced Rs 189 crore each for the upgrade of five district hospitals, including two in north Bengal, to medical colleges and Rs 150 crore each for infrastructure improvement at three existing medical colleges.

The Union health minister said North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri and medical colleges in Malda and Bankura would get infrastructure boost.

"Five district hospitals in Birbhum, Cooch Behar, Purulia, North Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas will be upgraded to medical colleges very shortly. The central government is providing Rs 189 crore for each hospital. Apart from that, we will also provide Rs 150 crore each for the upgrade of three medical colleges in Siliguri, Bankura and Malda," said Nadda.

He was attending the Vikas Parba conducted by the BJP's Siliguri organisational district to celebrate the second anniversary of Narendra Modi government. Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia and the BJP's national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh were also present at the event held at a private banquet hall on Sevoke Road.

Sources at Swasthya Bhavan said the upgrade of the five district hospitals to medical colleges had been in the pipeline. "However, this is the first time that the Centre is announcing the funds," said a source.

The sources said they were unaware of any plan to improve the infrastructure at the three medical colleges.

According to senior health department officials, there were two main challenges in converting district hospitals into medical colleges.

"The two main challenges are space and infrastructure and teaching facility. We have to draw up a detailed project report as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines. It could be that some existing district hospitals do not have adequate space to house the infrastructure of a medical college. In that case, land has to be identified close by. Drawing up a DPR means planning buildings for classes, hostels for students, housing for medical staff as well as facilities like libraries and specialised departments, surgeries and wards," a source said.

The Union minister alleged that the state government was not utilising central funds properly in time and residents of Bengal were suffering because of that.

"The central government is always keen to provide necessary assistance to the state for development of health facilities. But the state government cannot utilise funds properly in time and people of Bengal are suffering because of this. We have released Rs 683 crore to the state government under the National Health Mission. But less than 75 per cent of the grant remains unspent," said Nadda.

He added that the state government should strive to end "kala azar" and a special drive would be organised to eradicate the disease. "There are at least 15 blocks, where the state health department will have to work hard to eradicate the disease," said Nadda.

The Darjeeling MP said he had faced non-co-operation from the state government in implementing Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, under which he had to adopt a village and bring about development there.

"I have decided to introduce the central government's project and adopt a village in Naxalbari. But it is difficult for me to implement the project because of non-co-operation by officials at different levels of the state government," he said.