5 of 7 new medical colleges may not see the light of day

They were announced with much fanfare, but five of the seven new government medical colleges in Maharashtra, including the one in Mumbai, may not see the light of the day after all, thanks to a fund crunch.

Senior state government officials told dna that medical colleges in Chandrapur and Gondia have begun their operations. With an intake of 100 students each at the undergraduate level, other proposed institutions in Alibaug, Satara, Nandurbar, Baramati and Mumbai, however, are likely to be kept in cold storage.

The erstwhile Congress-NCP government had floated plans for these new medical colleges, most of which were to be located in constituencies and influence zones of senior ministers. This included the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan (Satara), deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar (Baramati), medical education minister Dr Vijaykumar Gavit (Nandurbar) and union minister Praful Patel (Gondia).

"We are facing a fund crunch," said an official, adding that a rush of announcements led to competing claims on the exchequer. "Apart from the already functional colleges in Gondia and Chandrapur, funds were given for a medical college in Baramati, where a Rs110 crore building has been constructed. At other sites, work has not even started. The Medical Council of India (MCI) will take a call regarding when the Baramati college will start functioning," he added.

The Gondia medical college started functioning this academic year, while the Chandrapur college began operations last year. The medical college in Mumbai was supposed to be located at the GT and Saint George hospitals in south Mumbai. A part of the GT hospital was taken over by the government to use as offices after the 2012 fire in the state administrative headquarters of Mantralaya. Now, the state government is considering an alternative site for the college in Borivli.

"We can get 25 acres for the hospital in Borivali. It is, however, tough to say when the college will start," the official said, noting that there was a need for a new medical college and hospital in Mumbai suburbs.

"There are five government and civic medical colleges in Mumbai but three of them (KEM, Nair and Grant medical) are located in a small part of the city. A major part of the suburbs is uncovered. People from areas such as Mulund have to come to Sion for treatment. BMC's medical college at the Cooper hospital is yet to start functioning at its optimum level," he said.

Maharashtra has 48 medical colleges, including 16 run by the state government. These colleges have a total of around 6,400 under-graduate and 3,200 post-graduate seats.

The new medical colleges would have added more seats in the public sector medical education institutions. This would have been a relief for aspiring students.

In 2002, three medical colleges with an intake of 300 under-graduate seats were started in Kolhapur, Latur and Akola. In 1989, medical colleges were started in Dhule, Yavatmal and Nanded, with 150 MBBS seats. The Ambejogai medical college was established in 1975.