Pune: PMC expedites process to set up its medical college
Shikha Chaurasia
Pune, August 15, 2020: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is in dire need for a civic-run medical college and hospital since long and now because of the Coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic, the need for it has increased.
A team led by Mayor Murlidhar Mohol along with other PMC officials submitted a letter on Thursday in Mumbai seeking an essentiality certificate from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER). The officials will send another letter seeking affiliation with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Nashik.
PMC health chief Ramchandra Hankare said that after getting all the important certificates from the state government, the proposal will be sent for approval to the Medical Council of India.
The state government has approved the proposal of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College in May. The college will have an intake of 100 students and an attached hospital with 500 beds.
The PMC Standing Committee approved setting up a trust at Rs 622 crore to run the government college in August 2019. The officials said that it has been already been planned to set up the college on a 10-acre plot and name it after the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
As per the proposal, there will be posts for 595 doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff. INI Design Studio Private Limited, Ahemdabad has been taken on board as a consultant for the project. They proposed the idea for setting up a trust to efficiently run the college.
The PMC has always felt a need for a civic-run hospital but since the pandemic, they have fast-tracked the process of getting approvals. As of now, the PMC has to rely heavily on private hospitals for treating critical COVID-19 patients as they lack the infrastructure to do so.
The mayor, standing committee chairperson, municipal commissioner, additional municipal commissioner, medical superintendent, civic health chief, dean of medical college, leader of house and opposition in the PMC will all be trustees.
