The state government has no objection if medical colleges want to impose nominal user charges through the Rogi Kalyan Sabhas to generate revenue, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in the Vidhan Sabha here today.
Sukhu was replying to Nagrota Bagwan legislator Raghubir Singh Bali’s question regarding Tanda medical college in Kangra facing a fund shortage, during the Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha. He said that since the medical colleges were autonomous bodies, their principals could impose user charges to generate revenue.
The Chief Minister said that there was a separate budgetary provision each for all medical colleges, including the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Hospital in Shimla and Tanda medical college in Kangra, and there was no discrimination in the allocation of money.
He said that there were eight functional X-ray machines in Tanda medical college while the process to purchase two new X-ray machines was underway. He assured the House that the government would look into the issue of replacing old lifts, which had outlived their life span, at Tanda medical college, which is 20-year-old. Nobody had spared a thought to start senior residentship at Tanda medical college and we would look into the issue, he added.
To Nahan legislator Ajay Solanki’s question, the Chief Minister said that it was strange that the medical college was set up during the BJP rule at a place near the district hospital which had no space for expansion. Now, 117 bighas had been identified at Nauni Ka Bagh at Kanshiwala for the medical college, he added.
He said, “The Central Public Works department (CPWD) and the contractor are demanding Rs 370 crore for completing construction work and the matter is under arbitration. It is not possible to set up a medical college at the present site due to space constraint. Hence, there is need to acquire land at the earliest to start construction there.”
To a supplementary question of Paonta Sahib MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhary, the Chief Minister said that Rs 100.88 crore had already been spent on the medical college building at the present site and it would be completed once the matter under arbitration was settled.
Solanki said that land had been identified for setting up Nahan medical college and the case for the diversion of forestland had also been moved. “There is need to expedite the process for obtaining clearances for land allotment. It has become very difficult to run the medical college at the present site due to the paucity of space,” he added.
The Paonta Sahib MLA said that the Health Department, which is the user agency, should expedite the process for obtaining clearance for land allocation so that a medical college could be built at the new site having an ample scope for expansion.
