State likely to upgrade 2 med colleges to varsities

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 28

With the aim to restore the lost glory of two oldest government medical colleges (GMCs), the state is planning to convert them into deemed universities.

Patiala and Amritsar GMCs were once the most prestigious institutes in the country but at present, they are going through their worst phase.

According to sources, the state government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former director of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr KK Talwar, to make a roadmap to find ways to restore the lost glory of these once prestigious institutions.

Dr Avinish Kumar, Director Department of Medical Education and Research, confirmed that the committee held its first meeting on Wednesday. Sources said in the meeting, the problems and modalities of transforming these colleges were discussed.

Earlier, a meeting regarding this was held last month under the chairmanship of Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar. The next one will be held on September 3.

Sources revealed that there were several issues to be discussed in the meeting. It includes turning these colleges into deemed universities so that they could get full autonomy in courses, syllabus, admissions and fee. Once an institute becomes an autonomous body it is expected to work at a high standard in the specific area of study. At present, there are 125 such universities in the country.

The sources revealed that besides, the government may also consider giving more autonomy to the two colleges with some changes in their status. One is to replicate the model of teh GMCH in Chandigarh, where the post of the principal is called director-principal, who has financial powers of up to Rs 1 crore.

Glorious history of institutions

• Amritsar GMC: It was founded as a medical school in Lahore in 1864 and relocated to Amritsar in 1920. Over the years, the college emerged as a nursery of medical teachers and trained physicians. Of the first 8 directors of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, 7 were from this college.
• Patiala GMC: It is first medical college started by the PEPSU government in 1953. The stone of the college building was laid by the then President Dr Rajendra Prasad and inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1954. Two of the PGIMER directors were from this college too.