Bengal to have three new medical colleges on PPP mode

West Bengal will have three new medical colleges on public-private partnership model, a official said here Saturday.

The medical colleges will come up near Tollygunge in Kolkata, Krishnanagar in Nadia and Cooch Behar town in Cooch Behar district respectively.

The Camellia Group will join hands with the state government for the projects at Krishnanagar and Cooch Behar, while the Techno Group will be the partner in Kolkata, state Health Secretary Malay De said at a programme here.

"While for the proposed medical college in Kolkata, land has been allotted and a five-year deadline set, for the medical colleges at Krishnanagar and Cooch Behar, two years' time has been given to turn two existing government hospitals into full-fledged medical colleges," De said at the inaugural session of a conference organised by the CII-Eastern Region.

De said the state government would soon float e-tenders inviting private players to bid for diagnostic centres to be set up at government hospitals for providing high-end services like CT scan, dialysis and MRI. Medical equipment manufacturers can also join the bidding process.

"Since West Bengal needs more hospital beds, more doctors, more technicians and healthcare personnel, we need the support of the private sector in a big way," he said.