Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarmah addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Wednesday. Image credit: UB Photos

Three new medical colleges of 500 bed capacity each are likely to come up in Assam in the next three years. Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this on Wednesday while adding that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is scheduled to lay the foundation stones of three medical colleges at Kokrajhar, Nalbari and at Tinsukia on January 6, 7 and 9 respectively.

“These three upcoming medical colleges will have 100 seats each,” he said adding that while the estimated cost for Kokrajhar medical college is 382.70 crore, the estimated cost for the medical colleges at Nalbari and Tinsukia is Rs. 398.31 crore and Rs. 404.63 crore respectively.

“At present there are six medical colleges in Assam—Gauhati Medical College, Assam Medical College, Silchar Medical College, Tezpur Medical College, Jorhat Medical College and Barpeta Medical College. These six colleges have 726 seats for MBBS education,” the Minister said.

On the other hand, four more medical colleges are under construction which includes medical colleges at Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Nagaon and at Diphu.

These four medical colleges with 500 bed capacity each will have 400 seats for medical education; he said adding that after completion of all the 13 medical colleges Assam will have a total of 1,426 seats for medical education.