Doon medical college to be a reality this month

Uttarakhand: Bringing cheers to the Dehradoon medical aspirants is the news that Doon medical college will be a reality soon. It is likely to get a final go-ahead from the MCI in this month.

The principal secretary of health, Om Prakash and the Doon Medical College principal Dr. Pradeep Bharti Gupta has recently given an undertaking to MCI. The undertaking in principle assured the council that the college will rectify the minor points raised during inspection.

"We are confident to get the Letter of Permission (LOP) this month. And then we will run the erstwhile Doon hospital on the lines of a medical college's hospital just like AIIMS/PGI. Now the hospital will be laced with additional ultra-modern equipment and specialist doctors will be invited from various parts of country to help in honing the skills of our young brigade of upcoming doctors for Uttarakhand," said Dr. K. K. Tamta, medical superintendent, Doon Medical College Hospital to TOI.

Going by this recent update, it seems that the medical college can now offer admissions for one-year MBBS course from this academic session itself. A 150-students batch is expected to start in August from this year.

If it gets the MCI nod, Doon medical college will be the first state institute to offer 150 MBBS seats under NEET; out of which 127 seats accounting for 85% seats is under the local student quota through NEET.

The state government is already reported to have appointed staff members to run the medical college.

Earlier, the much-hype surrounding the transition of Doon Hospital into Doon Medical College had started on a dissatisfactory chord with the MCI team.

After a surprise visit by the MCI officials to inspect the proposed Doon Medical College site in the beginning of the year, the meeting with the college officials ended on a concerning note.

This was reported to be the third site inspection by the MCI team of the medical college, and also the third continuous time MCI left unhappy with both the quality and pace of construction work.

Reportedly, Doon Medical College principal Dr Pradeep Bharati and director Dr Ashutosh Syana did the rounds of the academic and administrative blocks with the MCI team. However, unimpressed with the ongoing work, MCI was also concerned over the fact that most of the recruitment’s for the college hadn’t been done and so far and only a principal and some residents had been hired.