Odisha, MCL sign pact for medical college

The Odisha government today entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for setting up a 100-bed medical college and 500-bed hospital at Talcher.

MCL will incur a capital expenditure of Rs 400 crore for the project. The MoU was signed between P K Mohapatra, state health secretary and A N Sahay, chairman cum managing director (CMD) of MCL.

The project is scheduled for completion by 2016 and admission for MBBS students is expected to begin from the 2016-17 academic session. Admission will be as per provisions of Professional and Education Act-2007.

“The medical college and hospital will not only cater to the health needs of the people of the region but also leverage our consistent efforts to overcome the problem of shortage of doctors. It is heartening to note that when our government assumed office in 2000, we had three medical colleges in the state. Now, in 2014, we have about eight functional medical colleges and seven others are in various stages of establishment,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The state government will make available 20 acres of land for the medical college and hospital. The district administration has already identified the land. “We are going to start construction work this year itself. MCL is committed to the development of the Talcher region where we extract 65 million tonne coal annually,” said the MCL CMD.