Centre releases Rs 117.48 cr for six new med colleges

According to the letter from the Ministry, “President Ramnath Kovind has sanctioned the release of grants-in-aid totalling Rs 117.4 crore towards establishment of new medical colleges attached to district/referral hospitals in Tamil Nadu.”

Two separate orders were passed by the Union Ministry according to which Rs 105.24 crore was allotted in one order and in another separate order the remaining amount of Rs 12.24 crore has been allotted. All six medical colleges in the state would be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

Recently, the state government applied to Centre for establishment of six new medical colleges in Tirupur, the Nilgiris, Ramanathapuram, Namakkal, Dindigul and Virudhunagar and the Centre gave approval for medical colleges on October 21, this year. Following the permission state government issued a Government Order (GO) sanctioning Rs 325 crore each for all six medical colleges, taking the overall fund allocation to Rs 1,970 crore.

Centre’s share in the scheme would be 60:40 and Rs 1,170 crore would be contributed by the Centre. After giving permission for six new medical colleges, the Centre has released 10 per cent of the fund in Phase-I and the remaining fund would also be released in a phased manner.

Meanwhile, the Centre has also given permission for establishment of three new medical colleges in Krishnagiri, Tiruvallur and Nagapattinam and the state has issued GO allotting Rs 975 crore for the new medical colleges.