CM to inaugurate new medical college at Koraput today

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be inaugurating government medical colleges at Koraput and Baripada this week.
In a statement to media, Health and Family Welfare Pratap Jena said it is almost after 50 years that a government college will be unveiled in the state. Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital at Koraput will be inaugurated on Monday, and Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital at Baripada on Wednesday. The hospitals will cater to the people of undivided Koraput and Mayurbhanj districts respectively.
“The hospitals have been established in these two regions keeping in mind the large number of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe inhabitants. It was a dream we had been working on for some time and a development people of Odisha can be proud of,” Jena said.
With the establishment of these medical colleges, people of these two regions can now avail quality healthcare services in their own areas without having to travel all the way to Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Burla, Cuttack and Rourkela, he added.
Academic sessions of these two medical colleges at Koraput and Baripada will commence from September 4.
In June, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry had issued Letter of Permission to the Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital, allowing admission for 100 seats in under-graduate course from 2017-18 academic session.
The Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone of the college at Koraput on August 3, 2015. It has come up over 52 acre of land adjacent to the district headquarters hospital at an estimated cost of Rs 187 crore with 75 per cent Central assistance.
This is the fourth government medical college to be set up in the state after a gap of nearly 55 years. The MKCG Medical College was the last to be established at Berhampur in 1962. The VSS Medical College at Burla was established in 1959 while SCB Medical College at Cuttack was the first one to be set up in 1944.
Similarly, the medical college at Baripada spread over an area of 21.2 acre has also completed the admission process of 92 students.