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Soon, first govt medical college in Doon
Nishank has big dreams for state
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Edusat yet to take off in state
Satellite centres to boost voluntary blood donation
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Soon, first govt medical college in Doon
Dehradun, October 2 The state government has already initiated the formal procedure by submitting the token amount for registration at the Medical Council of India (MCI). It will be first for Dehradun city that has does not boast of a government medical college. The government has already deposited Rs 3.5 lakh towards registration of the college. These proposed relaxation in norms has also more to do with the central government’s desire to open as many medical colleges in the country in the shortest possible time. As a result, the officials in the state will no longer have to worry about housing the medical college in the same campus and may acquire land nearby. “There is a greater stress on equipping states with health resources and the central government has asked all states to invest in medical colleges. We started the process with two government medical colleges and now making a go at the third one,” said Keshav Desi Raju, Principal Secretary, Health. “The Doon Hospital and District Women Hospital premises will be amalgamated and expanded by acquiring the collectorate, treasury and other district offices on Haridwar Road. The expansion will be carried as per the requirement. The hospital then will have more units and more space,” he said. The medical college is expected to be housed in the jail premises on Haridwar road. The area fell vacant after the district jail was shifted to Suddhowala, adjoining Dehradun, to fulfil MCI norms. “As per the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines, the medical college should be within 10-15 km of the hospital. “In addition, it should have an urban health centre and a rural health centre within 50 km of the medical
college,” said Dr Sudhanshu Bahuguna, Additional Director, General Health and Family Welfare. At present, the state has two government medical colleges - one at
Haldwani and the other at Srinagar. Both are relatively new and are in various stages of development. The state authorities maintain that the third one would not be an extra burden on them and nor would it deflect attention from the existing ones. “We are aware that Dehradun has some private medical colleges too. We will only be adding one, but one must point out that people still prefer a government facility if it offers good services at less cost,” said Keshav Desi Raju. Meanwhile, with the relaxing of norms for hilly areas too, there is a huge opportunity for private players to set up hospitals in partnership with the government. Already, the Max group is planning to set up a hospital to be located between Rajpur and Mussoorie. The hospital is expected to give a boost to health tourism in the state. Another hospital is also expected to come up at Jhajjar to be set up on public-private partnership mode. Clearly, the relaxation in norms may finally bring in much-needed health infrastructure even in the remotest parts of the state.
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Nishank has big dreams for state
Dehradun, October 2 Chief Minister Nishank, buoyant after winning the Vikasnagar byelection held last month under his leadership, said that his government has a “Vision 2020” for the state in which priority sectors would be given a definite push in a bid to make Uttarakhand self-sufficient and a model state in the country. “Mission 2012” aims at making the BJP win the next assembly elections in the state. “Some of the priority sectors in which the state has a monopoly should be exploited for development of the state,” he said. Enlisting his priority areas, Chief Minister Nishank said that Uttarakhand has been bestowed with nature’s gift and has some of the best tourism locations in the world besides having some Hindu pilgrimage places. “Tourism, including religious tourism, is on our priority list and we want to showcase half a dozen places that are unique in the world like Kausani, Valley of Flowers, Lansdowne, Harsil, Chopta and Berinag,” he said. The Chief Minister said that he planned to sell these destinations to foreign tourists and they would be charged Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh each for a visit to these destinations. Tourists from other states in the country would be charged between Rs 21,000 to Rs 51,000 while anyone from within the state would be allowed to visit these areas free on certain occasions. Asked what would attract foreign tourists to come to Uttarakhand after paying such huge amount of money, Chief Minister Nishank said that it was the uniqueness of the places in the Himalayas that would bring tourists flocking to Uttarakhand. He also elaborated on his plans to develop five airports and 64 helipads to facilitate air traffic in the state. “Night landing at Jollygrant airport near Dehradun will start in six months,” he added. On river rafting, he expect to earn more than Rs 1,000 crore per annum for the state by public auction of river-rafting sites. On the agitation by local river-rafting companies on the issue, the Chief Minister said that his government would safeguard the interests of locals. “We will soon have policy for river rafting in the state,” he added. Besides developing tourism infrastructure, Uttarakhand would also be making the longest ropeway in the world from Auli to Garsoan in Chamoli district, he announced. Nishank said that Uttarkhand would be developed as a herbal state by capitalising on medicinal plants grown in the Himalayas. “We have already set up an ayurvedic university and will be promoting cultivation of precious herbs to give employment and economic prosperity to the people. Specific valleys will be developed for certain herbs and off-season vegetables,” said Nishank. On the hydro-power projects, Chief Minister Nishank was evasive on the issue of closure of Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati projects on the Bhagirathi river. “We have to take into account the concerns of environmentalists and of those having sentiments attached to the Ganga, but we will soon take a decision on these projects,” he said. On attending the meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority scheduled for October 5, the Chief Minister was non-committal on his stand but admitted that he would be attending the crucial meet. He announced that his government was for exploiting the hydro-power potential of rivers and would encourage smaller power projects to realise the dream of getting 40,000 MW hydro-power. “We will soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with a private company which has come up with a latest technology where there will be no need to built dams or storage areas and power would be generated through river current.” “We will first allow the company to experiment in canals and generate power with this technology,” he said. The Chief Minister also announced the development of eco-tourism and medical tourism through ayurveda as priority areas.
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Edusat yet to take off in state
Dehradun, October 2 The official apathy has deprived the students, especially ones hailing from remote hilly areas, an opportunity of being educated by experts through video-conferencing. Sources said under the scheme, a satellite interactive terminal worth Rs 1.40 crore was given to Doon University to set up an Edusat studio. A relay station for the purpose was also proposed to be set up at Navodaya Vidayalaya, Nanoor Khera, Dehradun. The sources said even after four years, it was yet to be decided as to which agency would do the job. The state government had released Rs 30 lakh as token money to the university to implement the scheme. Though the matter was brought to the notice of then Principal Secretary Bijender Pal, who held two meetings on the issue, no progress could be made. The matter was taken up again during the recent review meeting of higher education chaired by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who expressed serious concern over the matter. The meeting attended by the representatives of IGNOU, the Director, Higher Education, and principals of government colleges urged the CM to revive the scheme in an effective manner in the interest of students and higher education in the state. OSD (Higher Education) to CM MM Kargeti said on the instructions of the CM, steps were being taken to implement the scheme properly.
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Satellite centres to boost voluntary blood donation
Dehradun, October 2 The bank has been accorded the status of regional blood transfusion centre (RBTC). The effort is now to extend voluntary blood donations in the state and establish blood transfusion network in the districts. The satellite centres will be directly connected with the RBTC to meet immediate blood requirement of patients. Gradually, these will act as venues for blood donation camps to be held at regular intervals. “The proposal is pending with the government. Financial allocations have to be made by the state as per the agreement of 2006. IMA Blood Bank was set up under public-private partnership,” said Dr Alok Ahuja, member of the governing body and founder secretary of the IMA. According to the agreement, the state government is to provide finances for building and equipment. The IMA is awaiting nod for a second instalment of Rs 3 crore that would be used to set up satellite centres in the districts. As envisaged in the National Health Policy, in order to maintain the highest safety standards, a blood-processing unit has to be centrally located so that it can be linked with satellite-collection centres. The licence for a regional blood transfusion centre is issued by the Drug Controller of India, therefore strict standards are maintained there. In 2008, the total collection of blood through voluntary donation was 16,201 units (39.7 per cent) in Uttarakhand. Experts say the state can meet most of its blood needs if there is an increase in blood donations. However, there is an uneven distribution of voluntary donations that are focused mostly around plain districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Almora and Chamoli districts have a negligible role in voluntary blood donations. The IMA is also successfully running a mobile van that aims at taking the donor couch to the doorstep of the donors. “We are keen on repeating the experiment in the rest of the hill districts,” said Dr Alok Ahuja.
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The proposed relaxation in norms for new medical colleges may make things a little easier for upgrading the District Doon Hospital into a medical college.
After the “Chintan Baithak” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bigwigs in Shimla last month, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had his own version of the brain-storming session with ministerial colleagues and RSS-affiliate organisations at Mussoorie. The two-day marathon meeting ended on September 30 and the Chief Minister has come up with a “Vision 2020” and a “Mission 2012”.
