Guwahati: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday inaugurated the Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMSR) in Nagaland’s capital Kohima.
The NIMSR, which is the state’s first medical college, was inaugurated in the presence of state Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy Chief Minister T R Zeliang and the state’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare P Paiwang Konyak.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Mandaviya said, “NIMSR is not just a medical college but it is also a research institute. It will not only fulfill the purpose of imparting medical education but will also address the health issues of the Naga people.”
Highlighting the commitment of the Central government to improving medical education in Nagaland, Mandaviya said that within a span of just nine years, the MBBS seats in Nagaland have increased from 64,000 to 1.6 lakh.
He said that the postgraduate seats have also doubled during the period.
The Union Health Minister encouraged the students and other stakeholders to not limit their scope of research within the national borders.
“We must encash the opportunities abroad as well. The Central government has started foreign language courses in many medical education institutes so that the students can have an edge in getting jobs abroad. Strengthening the medical, nursing and pharmacy education in the country is an endeavor of the Central government for the holistic development and expansion of the country’s health sector. The aim is to ensure that each citizen of India is able to get access to affordable and accessible healthcare across the country,” Mandaviya added.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said, “Today is a historic day for the people of Nagaland as we inaugurated the first medical college in the state. It was a long cherished dream of the people of Nagaland to have a medical college in their state, so I thank the Central government for steadfastly taking up the project. NIMSR would help the state in strengthening its secondary and tertiary healthcare and it would become a centre of excellence in the coming days.”
The NIMSR aims to provide holistic medical education to MBBS students and comprehensive hospital-based and community outreach healthcare services to patients through various healthcare programmes besides intramural research facilities.
The NIMSR has state-of-the-art skill development domain-specific teaching-learning tools, laboratories, a central library, sports facilities and a medical education unit. The institute also has renowned faculty and residents, who continue to focus on capacity building, competence, confidence development, collaboration and cooperation.
The NIMSR is affiliated to Nagaland University. It received the letter of permission for admission of 100 MBBS seats for academic year 2023-2024 from the National Medical Commission (NMC), in April 2023 thus paving the way to start the first medical college in the state after 60 years of achieving statehood.
A total of 85 MBBS students from Nagaland and six students from all India seats got admitted to NIMSR and joined classes after the induction program on September 1, 2023.