Himachal Pradesh government neglecting medical education: Dhumal

Shimla, 4 June: Senior BJP leader P K Dhumal has hit out Virbhadra Singh government in Himachal Pradesh saying it was "wreaking vengeance" against rivals and neglecting medical education.

"The government has done nothing except wreaking vengeance on rivals during past 18 months and as a result the health services have been neglected and the MCI has recommended that the enhanced quota of MBBS seats in two government-run colleges need not be renewed," he said.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) recommended reduction in MBBS seats in the state-run Indira Gandhi Medical college (IGMC, Shimla) and R P Medical College, Tanda (Kangra), and this, Dhumal said, was due to the failure of the state government.

He recalled that an earlier Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh had opened the Tanda medical college at the fag end of its tenure without any infrastructure and faculty and the BJP government, which came to power after that in 1998, had taken efforts for getting recognition from MCI.

Dhumal said the BJP government, during its tenure from 2008 to 2012, helped raise the number of MBBS seats in IGMC and Tanda medical colleges from 65 and 50 to 100, but the present government failed to take necessary follow-up action and MCI has refused to renew the enhanced quota of seats.

The former chief minister also said that the number of seats in post-graduate courses in the two medical colleges were raised from 39 to 149 and a target had been set to increase the same to 200, but the state was taking a backslide in this regard.

PTI

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