Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 11 government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu

The new medical colleges have come up at Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam, Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Ramanathapuram and Krishnagiri districts in the state and would have a cumulative capacity of 1,450 medical seats, as reported by Trinity Mirror, a partner of TV BRICS.

The government had earlier said establishment of these medical colleges was in line with the prime minister’s constant endeavour to promote affordable medical education and improve health infrastructure in all parts of the country.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin reiterated Tamil Nadu’s stand against the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-based medical admissions, and appealed to Mr. Modi to allow admissions on the basis of Class-XII marks.

The total cost of buildings for these colleges, shared by the Central and State Governments, is ₹4,080 crore. The Central Government’s share was ₹2,145 crore and the State Government’s was ₹1,934.6 crore.

While Governor R.N. Ravi took part in the virtual event from the Raj Bhavan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Minister for Public Works E.V. Velu, Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu (also holding Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture portfolio) and Health Minister Ma. Subramanian took part in the virtual event from the Secretariat.

The medical colleges in Ariyalur, Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Krishnagiri, Nagapattinam, the Nilgiris and Virudhunagar, would have an annual intake of 150 students, while the remaining colleges would have 100.

Each of these colleges would have 33 departments with basic facilities like dissection hall, laboratories, skill labs, central library, lecture halls, and examination halls, among others. They would also have hostel facilities and residential quarters for boys and girls, and quarters for the teaching staff.

Each of these hospitals would have Emergency Department, Intensive Medical Care Unit, Intensive Cardiac Care Unit, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Sick Newborn Intensive Care Unit and Obstetric ICU, among others.

They're 33 departments in each of these colleges are – Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Forensic Medicine and so on.

As on March 31, 2021, the intake capacity of students in M.B.B.S. courses in government medical institutions was 3,550.