Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha protests in front of Assembly; "Build Medical College in Karimganj as per NMC Guideline" demands

Elected member of the Assam Assembly from North Karimganj Legislative Assembly Constituency, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha sits in demonstration right in front of the State Assembly. The winter session of the Assembly kickstarted today and Purkayastha used the occasion to raise his demands. Taking a jibe at the BJP Government, Purkayastha said, “Democracy is being hijacked in Assam and Assembly.”

It was announced by the chief minister of Assam that the government will set up a medical college in Ratabari, Karimganj. The announcement was made almost after five years of declaring that Karimganj district will have a Medical College. This would share the load on Silchar Medical College and Hospital, the only government hospital equipped to cater to the major healthcare needs of a population of more than 40 lakh people.

Purkayastha’s allegations are that a Medical College in Ratabari does not comply with the guidelines of the National Medical Commission. He said the hospital that is being set up in Ratabari is around 70 kilometres away from the district headquarters or district hospital and so, it violates the guidelines. “Our demand is that the government must build the Medical College in Karimganj as per NMC Guidelines and not anywhere as per the government’s preference.”

National Medical Commission (NMC) is an Indian regulatory body of 33 members which regulates medical education and medical professionals. It replaced the Medical Council of India on 25 September 2020.

The NMC guidelines as reported by Outlook, In tier 1 and tier 2 cities, hilly and north-east states and notified tribal areas, the campus could also be on two plots of land – one housing the teaching hospital and the other the medical college with hostels for students and interns, the notification stated.

If the campus is housed in more than one plot of land, the distance between each one of these plots should be less than 10 kms or less than that of 30 minutes travelling time.

Provided that where the government district hospital is being considered for use as the teaching hospital of a medical college, all constituents of the district hospital, even if they are on two plots of land, will be considered as the affiliated teaching hospital, provided that the main district hospital has at least 300 beds or in Hilly and North-East states has 250 beds.

Now the argument is that should the government build the hospital in Ratabari, it will be at least 50 kilometres away from the district hospital in Karimganj which automatically will then become an affiliated hospital. In that case, what happens to the ten kilometres condition of NMC is what Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha contests.