The first medical college in Nagaland is being set up at Phriebagei in Kohima. The foundation stone of the medical college was laid by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in 2014. The approved cost to establish the medical college was Rs. 189 crore. As per state medical department website, nagahealth.nagaland.gov.in, the target was to begin academic session by 2016-17, tentatively.
Compare this to the medical college in Mizoram which started operating in 2018 and took Rs 210 crore to set-up. Construction of the medical college near the capital Aizawl started on Oct. 2015. This means that the time for construction took less that 3 years.
But why compare Nagaland with Mizoram? Because the hilly terrain is similar to both Kohima and Aizawl and the cost of construction is also similar. While Mizoram’s medical college took less than 3 years to set-up, in Nagaland’s case, construction is still going on even after 7 years.
As on now, the proposed date for completion of the college is set at year end 2021, and few things to be completed by mid 2022, a DIPR report said.
What are the problems Nagaland medical college is facing?
Land ownership issues: This is quiet common in Nagaland is said to have hampered the progress in construction.
Due to non-availability of land at the existing Nagaland District Hospital, Kohima the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare on 12 February, 2014 along with the then Deputy Commissioner Kohima, proposed an area of 135 acres of land at Phriebagei, Kohima to set up the first-ever Medical College in the State. It was approved in principle on 30th April 2014 by State Level Acquisition Authority. However, it is said, that as per the agenda 24/3 of SLAA meeting dated 21 December, 2015 the purchased land was only 30-40 acres and not 135 acres. This was mentioned in a report by Benrilo Shitiri, Team Member, Governor’s Young Fellowship Programme.
Change in governments: In the last seven years, Nagaland has seen 3 chief ministers. Change in governments and slow movement of files may have hampered the progress in construction.
It is unclear when actual construction began but as per available reports, the nod of approval to begin construction was given in mid-2017 when Dr Shürhozelie Liezietsu was the Chief Minister. It was later reported that the construction began sometime in 2018, reported the Morung Express.
Covid-19: Lockdowns in 2020 surely has had an effect on the availability of manpower but other major construction works were going on during that time.
Why does Nagaland need a medical college?
Nagaland, the second oldest state in the north-east, also has the distinction or rather the ignominy of being the only state in India without a medical college. This is as per data tabled by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Ashwini Kumar Choubey in the Lok Sabha on February 5.
Other NE states, which gained statehood much later than Nagaland, are faring much better in this aspect. Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram today have their own medical colleges up and running.
There is Hope
The current government seem to be on their toes to get the work done. Ministers are visiting the site often and taking stock of things. Hopefully, we will see the medical college soon.
This looks wow but is it official?
A company by the name Helix Healthacre Architecture has mentioned Nagaland medical college as one of their projects in “tender stage” and has uploaded some pictures in their website. We don’t know if it is official but the pictures do look very good.
What about Mon Medical college?
We will keep that topic for some other day.