Shillong: Boost to Medical Education in Meghalaya

Bringing a boost to medical education in the state, Meghalaya’s first private medical college, the PA Sangma International Medical College, is going to begin its academic session.

According to a UNI report, the medical college will start to intake students from the current academic session.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has granted approval to the USTM for the intake of 150 students in an academic year. However, the National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulatory body for medical education in India, has yet to grant permission to the PA Sangma International Medical College.

Also Read: Foundation of P A Sangma International Medical College laid in Meghalaya

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who laid the foundation of the construction of the medical college’s building in 2022, took to his microblogging site X and informed the Chancellor and founder of USTM, that Mahbubul Hoque met him and apprised him about the news.

“Chancellor of USTM, Mahbubul Hoque along with G D Sharma and S Saharia called on CM, Conrad K Sangma to formally apprise him of the official nod accorded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India for the operationalization of PA Sangma International Medical College and Hospital from the academic session 2024 for 150 seats of MBBS,” Sangma posted on X.

The Chief Minister, who laid the foundation stone of PA Sangma International Medical College in 2022, had said that it’s a great honour for his father (late PA Sangma) that the medical college was named after him.

“PA Sangma always believed in investing in people and this college would be a blessing for the people of Meghalaya,” he said.

Hoque had earlier approached the Meghalaya government for funding so that almost 40 seats in the medical college could be reserved for the students from Meghalaya.

Meghalaya doesn’t have a state-run medical college, except North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences medical college, which is a central government institute. The government has been trying in vain for the past 50 years to establish one. Currently, work is on to have one such medical college in Shillong and the other at Tura.

USTM has been in the news for the wrong reasons for its alleged destruction of large hills and several trees at its campus for the construction of the medical college at Baridua in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district close to Assam’s main city Guwahati. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the state government is considering approaching the National Green Tribunal against USTM over the cutting down of hills which led to artificial flooding in Guwahati. However, the USTM Chancellor has vehemently denied the charge and said that the university has a recognised “green campus”.

Chief Minister Sangma had said that a joint committee would be set up to look into all matters relating to the USTM.

Also Read: Shillong Medical College operational by next year, Tura Medical College by 2026-27: Meghalaya Health Minister