U'khand rides high on healthcare boom

After the Uttarakhand government set up a medical college at Srinagar town in Garhwal region, a couple of proposals for new medical colleges and hospitals in the hill state have kept the healthcare market buzzing.

Faced with shortage of doctors, the government has decided to build two more medical colleges with a total investment of Rs 400 crores.

Besides two government medical colleges, Max Hospital is also looking for land at Purkul area at the foothills of Mussoorie in Dehra Dun district. Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said Dehra Dun would soon get its first government medical college, for which a proposal had already been submitted to the Medical Council of India (MCI). For this purpose, the government is looking for 10-acre land in Dehra Dun. Already, some of the sites have been identified in this regard.

Another government medical college would be built at the hill resort of Almora in Kumaon region.Nishank also said the government was contemplating a move to take over the Forest Trust Hospital at Haldwani. With this, the total strength of government medical colleges in the state would go up to four. The government last year set up its first medical college at Srinagar in Garhwal region, which has already started operation.Already, two private medical colleges – Shri Mahant Indresh Medical College and Jollygrant Medical College — are functioning in Dehra Dun district.

Union Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat said that a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Rishikesh would start function in 2011. The proposal for the AIIMS had been gathering dust during the past few years. But Rawat said the Centre was now ready to take up the work for civil infrastructure for building AIIMS at Rishikesh.

Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has also submitted proposals for building medical colleges and hospitals at the industrial estates of Haridwar, Pantnagar and Selaquie. The State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) has identified land for building ESI hospitals in the state.