Foundation laid for Rs 447.32 crore medical college in Ooty

Additionally, the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs 122.32 crore for the construction of additional buildings. With this, the foundation stones for all the 11 medical colleges (in Nilgiris, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Tirupur, Namakkal, Nagappattinam, Krishnagiri, Tiruvallur, Kallakurichi and Ariyalur) have been laid by Palaniswami and these teaching institutions are expected to be functional from the next academic year.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Friday laid the foundation stone for the Rs 447.32 crore medical college in this tourist town, a long cherished dream of people of the hilly Nilgiris district. Coming up in an area of 40 acres in Fingerpost area, it would also house a super-speciality hospital, with modern equipment, hostels for medical students, quarters for doctors and a control room for 108 ambulances.

The colleges will have 150 MBBS seats and is among the 11 new medical colleges sanctioned by the Centre last year for Tamil Nadu. According to an official release, both the state and central governments have sanctioned the first instalments of Rs 110 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively to facilitate the construction of buildings.

While the central share of the total project cost (of Rs 447.32 crore) is Rs 195 crore, the Tamil Nadu government would contribute its share of Rs 130 crore. Additionally, the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs 122.32 crore for the construction of additional buildings.

With this, the foundation stones for all the 11 medical colleges (in Nilgiris, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Tirupur, Namakkal, Nagappattinam, Krishnagiri, Tiruvallur, Kallakurichi and Ariyalur) have been laid by Palaniswami and these teaching institutions are expected to be functional from the next academic year. As on date, there are 25 government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu including the Madras Medical College (to which the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital is attached) which is among the oldest and largest institutions imparting medical education in India.

Despite having popular tourist places and being major producer of plantation crops, the district lacked speciality healthcare facilities and people, including tea estate workers, have to depend on hospitals in neighbouring Coimbatore and Erode cities. Locals are happy as it would also be a boon to medical aspirants from the district who now go outside for pursuing medical education.

Palaniswami laid the foundation through videoconferencing and the function was attended by local MLAs and senior district officials..