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Delhi civic body to develop ₹380-crore new medical college
MCD plans to allocate ₹95 crore annually over the next four years to develop the medical college complex
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The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to develop a new medical college complex at the cost of ₹380 crore at Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis (RBIPMT) under the Civil Lines zone in North Delhi, senior municipal officials aware of the matter said on Friday.
According to the project proposal, submitted by municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, the corporation plans to allocate ₹95 crore annually over the next four years to develop the medical college complex, which will have a provision for 150 MBBS students and 50 MD/MS seats.
HT has seen a copy of the proposal moved by the commissioner and it is expected to be taken up by the house of councillors on May 14.
A senior official from the hospital administration on condition of anonymity said that the medical college will operate on a “twin campus” model along with the Hindu Rao hospital, which is the largest tertiary care hospital run by the municipality. “The erstwhile North MCD had started a smaller medical college with 50 seats in 2013. There were plans to set up building infrastructure and expand this for this medical college, but the corporation was facing financial hurdles,” the official said.
The official added that the Hindu Rao hospital complex has space constraints and many monuments, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in its close vicinity. “ASI had been raising objection for setting up new buildings here as the Ashoka Pillar and 1857 mutiny memorial are located very close to the site. We have decided to develop the entire campus at RBIPMT hospital, which has a large open site,” the official added.
The 50-seat medical college inside Hindu Rao complex has several facilities running out of porta cabin structures. The first batch of the college graduated in 2017. “A meeting of all medical college deans in Delhi was held under the chairmanship of the special secretary health of the Delhi government on February 16. During this meeting, MCD was advised to increase the number of seats to 150 seats per year and also start postgraduate courses. The minimum number of students as per national medical council guidelines is 100 per year. So, we also need to expand the scale of the college,” the official said.
Set up in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of the coronation of King George, the Raja Babu hospital is one of the biggest tuberculosis hospitals in Asia, located along the Mall Road near GTB Nagar. It is spread over a 90-acre area. “The location of this hospital is very prime and the complex is well connected by the Ring Road and Delhi Metro,” the official said.
The communication submitted by the MCD commissioner said that a cost estimate of ₹380 crore has been prepared based on project reports of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Ram Manohar Lohia hospital with concept design of 250 admissions and per unit cost is estimated to be ₹1.9 crore.
The proposal said that the corporation may approve the increase in intake of students from 60 MBBS seats to 150 MBBS seats, construction of medical campus with laboratories, hostels, auditoriums, multi-speciality health block, library, staff quarters among other facilities and administrative approval of ₹380 crore for the project.
