Pvt medical colleges may use infra of state-run hospitals to train students

Kolkata: Taking a major decision to facilitate the setting up of more private medical colleges in the state, the Bengal government has decided to allow using the infrastructure of state-run hospitals for the training of students if any private medical college is set up.

The private medical college authorities have to pay a "user charge" if it continues to use the infrastructure even after the initial five years.

The pre-condition for setting up a medical college is to have a 300-bed hospital. Since setting up of the same is a "time-consuming" factor if any private medical college comes up, the infrastructure of the nearest 300-bed state-run hospital would be used by the private medical college for the training of their students.

Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi announced the decision of the state government after the Cabinet gave its nod in this connection.

Similarly, there is a need to set up a 100-bed hospital for a nursing college. The state government has decided to allow the use of the infrastructure of a 100-bed state-run hospital if any private nursing college comes up. The only condition, in this case, is that 25 percent of the seats of the private nursing college would be with the state government. The moves have been taken as per the guidelines of the National Medical Commission.

According to the provision, the infrastructure of the state-run hospitals can be allowed to be used for three to 33 years. In Bengal, private medical college authorities have to give a "user charge" if they continue to use the infrastructure even after five years.

This comes when the Bengal government is setting up six new medical colleges at Uluberia, Jhargram, Barasat, Arambagh, Tamluk and Jalpaiguri and has already taken steps to initiate the recruitment process in 1,464 posts.