Health centers to be attached to medical colleges in J&K

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir medical colleges will soon have health centers attached to them in an attempt to impart better training to medical students. According to officials, 4 or 5 health centers are to be attached to medical colleges with financial and administrative control

“It is envisaged that all medical colleges shall have the required number of health centers associated to it as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines,” a senior health official told The Tribune.

According to him, the government was planning to attach PHCs, urban health training centers (UHTC) and rural health training centers (RHTC) to all medical colleges with administrative and financial control.

“It is important for the medical students to have hands-on training in primary health centers before treating the patients at tertiary care hospital,” Head, Preventive and Community Medicine, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Dr SM Salim Khan told the Tribune.

He said the students would be trained to provide primary treatment to the patients in these health centers.

With two medical colleges each in Srinagar and Jammu, the state has five more coming up in various districts this year. GMC, Srinagar, already has three PHCs, a UHTC and RHTC attached to it for training students.

Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) an autonomous unit has a separate medical college at Bemina in Srinagar. Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti on December 7 announced a take over of the community health center at Bandipora, Sumbal, and its 14 affiliated health centers by SKIMS.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines call for every medical college to have a mandatory urban health training center, rural health training center and two to three public health centers attached to it with complete administrative and financial control for teaching and training of medical graduates.