Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday inaugurated the first ever private medical college of North East India, Shija Academy of Health Sciences (SAHS), at its premises located at Health Village, Langol, Imphal West.
Addressing the function, Biren extended his words of appreciation to Shija Hospitals and Research Institute Pvt Ltd for their ability to establish the first ever private medical college in the state with a total seat capacity of 150 when the state is in dire need to increase the number of physicians.
The chief minister also said that 50 percent of the seats will be reserved for state government nominees while the rest will be reserved for private admission.
Biren said that people had witnessed acute shortage of doctors and nurses in the state in the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
However, with the enormous dedication from health workers, both private and government, the state could successfully control it. As such, all health care workers deserve to be acknowledged, the CM added.
The chief minister also stated that the state has strong potential for medical tourism and considering this, the government is putting effort to launch Imphal-Myanmar and Imphal-Bangladesh flight service soon under the Home Ministry. Besides this, the infrastructure at the Imphal international Airport will also be upgraded, the CM stated.
For the state, helicopter services for Imphal-Moreh, Imphal-Tamenglong-Jiribam will be started soon under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the CM informed.
Biren showed his gratitude to SHIJA for providing more than 12,000 cataract operations and around 4000 corrective surgeries free of cost. On top of this, around 57,000 patients were treated under Chief Minister gi Hakshel gi Tengbang and Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojaya, the CM said.
Chairman cum mama director of the institute, Dr Palin Khundongbam said that after due inspection and screening, Shija Hospitals and Research Institute Pvt Ltd is now permitted to start a new private medical college with 150 students intake capacity per year by National Medical Commission under the name Shija Academy of Health Sciences from the current year.
He said that SAHS is the first homegrown private medical college in NE India. It is a product of synchronicity of various blessings like manpower, infrastructure, various supports, timing, preparedness etc. he added.
Palin said that the purpose of opening the medical college is to produce strong empathetic, compassionate, socially and environmentally responsible research oriented medical graduates and post graduates and affordable quality health care and medical value tourism, adding that education and health care are the two major economic drains of the state.
Around 400 Manipuri students are going outside the state and country for private medical studies per year. It is estimated that about 700 Manipuri are presently studying medicine in private in China, Palin said. The main reason behind students pursuing medicine outside the state is due to the different proportion between medical aspirants and intake of state government nominees for MBBS, he added.
The programme was also attended by Works Minster Thongam Biswajit Singh as guest of honour.
