Agartala, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said his government would soon appoint a vice chancellor for the proposed medical university to run the institute effectively.
Currently, the northeastern state has three medical colleges, where 550 MBBS and over 200 postgraduate seats are available.
Besides, an Ayurvedic medical college will become operational by the current academic session, and a homoeopathic medical college will start functioning from the next academic session.
“Several medical institutes are functioning in our state while two more medical colleges are coming up. Till now, medical institutes are functioning under the aegis of the Tripura Central University, which lacks medical expertise,” the chief minister said.
Addressing a programme on World Hepatitis Day at Rabindra Bhavan here on Tuesday, organised by the Hepatitis Foundation of Tripura (HFT), he said a bill for setting up a medical university has already been passed in the assembly.
“We will soon appoint a vice chancellor for the proposed medical university to run all the medical institutes effectively. This will help us improve medical education in the state further,” he said.
Claiming that the medical facilities have been enhanced in the state over the years, he said referral cases have been reduced by around 80 per cent.
“Our telemedicine facility is directly connected with the AIIMS, New Delhi. Patients are getting benefits free of cost by sitting at GBP hospital here, with the government paying Rs 5000 per case. It appears beneficial for the patients,” he said.
Saha said the health department has launched a statewide programme -Mukhyamantri Niramay Arogya Abhiyan – to screen people to trace non-communicable diseases for treatment.
“It has been noticed that around 75 per cent of the total deaths in the state happen because of non-communicable diseases. That’s why we launched a special programme to identify and treat the ailing persons at an early stage,” he said.
Saha also lauded the role of the Hepatitis Foundation of Tripura for setting a target to make the northeastern state hepatitis-free in the next four years.
“The foundation has been working relentlessly to make Tripura hepatitis free. I hope it will succeed in its mission with the support of the state government,” he said. PTI
