Shimla: Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said that a Bill would be introduced in next Vidhan Sabha session regarding opening of Medical University in Himachal.
The Chief Minister, while presiding over the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), said the government had also decided to provide free medical education to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and IRDP students.
On fee structure, as pointed out, students were paying fee of five years for four and a half year course, the Chief Minister said that he will examine the issue and certainly will come out with a solution to it.
The Chief Minister said IGMC had expanded vast and the second campus was coming up at Chamyana on 250 bighas of land near Bhattkuffar.
He said that medical education was very important to meet the health requirement of people, keeping in view the growing population in times to come, adding that there was need to open more Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres in rural areas of the State to cater to the basic health needs of the rural population.
He said that this college had been started from humble beginning had developed as one of the prestigious institute of the country and expressed hope that it would grow leaps and bounds in near future. He said his passion was to promote medical education and general education, adding that we had decided to run medical colleges efficiently. The medical college at Nahan had already started functioning, and the two medical colleges in Hamirpur and Chamba would be started soon.
The Chief Minister also released a souvenir titled ‘Sushruta’ and book on Pharmacology by Dr. Joginder Pathania.
He felicitated the founding teachers of IGMC and students of first batch (1966) of IGMC including former principals and staff.
Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said that this golden jubilee was a special occasion for IGMC, being the first medical college of Himachal Pradesh which had traversed a long successful journey.
Principal IGMC, Dr. Ashok Sharma detailed about the various measures being taken for expansion of the biggest hospital of the State.
The alumni of the IGMC, who were the special invitees, also recalled their experiences while in service.
