Delhi gets first govt-run medical college in 60 years, CM lauds Jain

Speaking after the inauguration of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College at Rohini in North-West Delhi, Kejriwal noted that his government was successful in building a medical college in a “record time” of one year.

“There is a TV channel, don’t know which one, that claims to be Sabse Tej (fastest). I don’t know if it is fastest or not but Delhi government is ‘Sabse Tej’ as it constructed the medical college in one year,” he said in a lighter vein.

Stating that Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College was the only state-run medical college that came up in the city in last six decades, Kejriwal quipped that the next one should not take another 60 years.

“A total of 1,000 seats are available in the government medical colleges in Delhi, which need to be increased. The city should be developed into an education hub,” he said.

“With the addition of 100 seats of Dr BR Ambedkar Medical College to the existing 1,000 seats, there are just 485 medical seats for Delhi students which need to be increased urgently,” he added.

Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain has suggested drastic reform in medical education, wherein MBBS should be a three-year degree course, while MD/MS should be five-year course. There should also be integrated MD/MS for medical students.  

“In the present system, an MBBS student has to invest five years to get a graduation degree to become to a practising doctor. If we reduce the duration of MBBS course to three years, we will be able to bridge the gap of demand and supply of doctors in the country,” said Jain at the inauguration of the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College in Rohini. 

The 100-seat medical college of the Delhi government has come up after 60 years. However, Jain has assured another medical college will not take such time.  “At present, students are tired with the lenghty education system and quit in the middle of the course. If we can give more years to MD/MS, only those who want to specialise will pursue it further,” added Jain.  He said there must be an integrated MD/MS course too. The minister criticised the Medical Council of India for not making any reform in the medical education.

The medical college is been set on the premises of Delhi government-run 540-bed Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in West Rohini.  It will be the 413th medical college in India and with this the total number of MBBS seats in the country has reached 15,865.  

As per the rule, out of the 100 medical students that will be enrolled from September onwards, 85 will be from Delhi and 15 from across India. The college has 54 faculty members. 

Dr Achal Gulati will be the principal and the director, while Dr Puneeta Mahajan will be the Managing Director. The college has been built with pre-fabricated structures, without the use of concrete. It medical college will be affiliated to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, which comes under the Delhi government.