Following is from a report in Times of India.
The report of the steering committee on health for the 12th five year plan (incorporating reports of all working groups and deliberations in Committee meetings) has suggested opening of four new prototypes of premiere All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS) in addition to the eight already approved.
… Union health ministry is in the process of constructing six AIIMS-like institutes in Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh at a cost of Rs 847 crore each, up from Rs 332 crore that was originally estimated. There are expected to be ready by July, 2012.
The Planning Commission has given approval to two more AIIMS-like institutes in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. …
With 26 medical institutions have been approved for upgrade, the panel has said an additional 30 medical colleges established at least 20 years ago be identified for support through Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.
“Other medical colleges, in private or voluntary sector may also be considered for upgrade and strengthening for starting new postgraduate disciplines and increasing post-graduate seats,” the report says.
In Odisha, as per the timeline, SCB medical college in Cuttack was established in 1944, VSS in Burla was established in 1959 and MKCG in Berhampur was established in 1962. All three of them satisfy the above mentioned criteria of being established 20 years ago. Considering that none of the 26 approved upgrades are from Odisha, and 4 states currently are approved for both new AIIMS-like institutes as well as upgrades (WB,Bihar, MP, UP) the Odisha government should push for all three of its existing government medical colleges to be upgraded during the 12th plan.
December 31st, 2011
Following are excerpts from a report in Times of India.
Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to prepare a series of medical reforms within a month. One of the crucial reforms is regarding land required to start medical colleges.
Now, the ministry allows a medical college to start on a 10-acre plot in nine cities – Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Pune. It is planning to expand this list and include state capitals of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, which are not only facing acute shortage of human resources, but also have poor health indicators.
The ministry will allow these states to have split campuses – hospital and medical college within 10km of each other. This facility is available only in north-eastern and hill states, which require 20 acres of plot to start a medical college.
… The high-power expert group (HLEG) of the Planning Commission working on universal health coverage has proposed a phased addition of 187 colleges. The HLEG said by 2015 under phase A, 59 new medical colleges will admit students in the 15 states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal.
By 2017, 13 of these states will have an additional 70 medical colleges, and by 2022, 58 additional colleges will be built in two additional phases (2017-20 and 2020-22). By 2022, India will have one medical college per 25 lakhs in all states except Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
"The implementation of HLEG’s recommendations will enable the additional availability of 1.2 lakh doctors by 2017 and another 1.9 lakh doctors between 2017 and 2022. With this rate of growth, it is expected that the HLEG target of one doctor per 1,000 will be achieved by 2028," the report said.
These easing of norms would indeed help. In particular, the plan to expand Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar to a medical college is stuck because of the land requirements. With the ease of the norms many large hospitals, which already have or are close to having the required number of beds, can have an associated medical college.
The ease of the norms should be such that many district hospitals can also have medical colleges. That will spread the medical colleges to other districts.
December 24th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from an Indian Express report in ibnlive.com.
The 10 proposed agro-polytechnics by the Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT) in the agro-climatic zones of the State would come up by the next academic session beginning July-August. These polytechnics would offer two-year diploma course for Plus-II pass-outs in the disciplines of agriculture, fisheries, animal science and horticulture. While one each polytechnic will be dedicated for horticulture, fisheries, animal science, the remaining seven will impart training on agriculture.
The polytechnics will also provide certificate courses for school dropouts in various disciplines.
… The OUAT had last year proposed to set up the polytechnics aiming to help the grassroots-level people in the field of technology transfer and guiding farmers in improving their economy.
These polytechnics would churn out agro-technicians, who can earn a living by doing agricultural jobs for the farmers on payment basis or just establishing their own ventures such as seed production, nursery management, food processing and preservation and bio-fertiliser production.
There is a great need for such intermediate-level technicians who can convince the local farmers about low-risk technologies and their applications for better yield.
V-C Ray said the agro-polytechnics would function close to agriculture research stations and Krishi Vigyan Kendras as there will be optimum utilisation of teachers, support staff, equipment and appliances and other existing facilities. “If required, additional infrastructure would be set up for the purpose,” Ray said.
December 20th, 2011
An article in Telegraph mentions that Sainik School Bhubaneswar occupies an area of 220 acres. It is located next to Utkal University in a prime location. At present the Bhubaneswar Sainik School has a capacity of 525 students. Its current faculty strength is 28 and it has an adminsitrative staff of 14. It probably has some more maintenance staff.
While the achievement of Sainik School Bhubaneswar has been very good (see excerpt below)
Achievements: So far approximately 600 cadets have become officers in the defence forces through NDA alone. In addition many cadets have got commission through other entries. This school also has been honoured by the achievements of its cadets through various civil services like IAS-14, IPS-07 and allied services – 09. Several have become ministers in the State of Orissa and Nagaland. The cadets making foray in the fields of medical, engineering, merchant navy are plenty and doing the school proud. The highest ranking officers are two major generals and one Air Vice Marshal.
I think the 220 acres in a prime location in a capital city is a gross under utilization of the land for a residential school of 525 students, 28 teachers and 14 academic staffs, unless one explains it away as a green cover.
Following excerpts tell the story of how the Sainik Schools were set up.
Salient Features of Sainik Schools
(a) The entire capital expenditure on land and buildings is met by the respective State Govts who are also required to provide funds for maintenance of infrastructure and for new infrastructural projects. The State Govts also award scholarships on merit cum means basis.
…
Role of Ministry of Defence in Sainik Schools
(a) Ministry of Defence provides scholarships to wards of defence personnel including ex-servicemen. In addition Ministry of Defence provides central assistance to those students who are awarded state scholarships. The sharing of expenditure on fees/scholarships among Central Govt, State Govt and parents is decided by the BOG from time to time.
(b) With effect from financial year 2003-04, the Ministry of Defence has implemented a scheme under which burden of fee and dietary charges are being shared between the Ministry of Defence and the parents in the ratio 3 : 1. Under this scheme all boys studying in Sainik Schools get financial assistance of about Rs.9,000 – 10,000 every year. The scheme also provides incentive to boys who join the NDA by refunding.
Achievements of Sainik Schools a) Aims – So far these schools have contributed about 7,000 officers to the three services. Its students today occupy important positions in all spheres of national activities. Since the schools were founded in early 60s, its cadets have now reached the level of Generals in the Army and equivalent Ranks in the Navy and Air Force.
b) Results – These schools send about 130-160 cadets to the NDA every year. As far as CBSE results are concerned the schools are performing creditably. All efforts are on to improve the results qualitatively.
c) Quality Education – In most of the States Sainik Schools are the only residential institutions and that too located in isolated areas. Thus these schools have been able to contribute significantly to development of education in backward areas and also in carrying out backward area educational integration.
Considering that the state government gave the land and buildings to the school and in most states these schools are in isolated areas, I think it may be worth pondering if the:
(a) Sainik School Bhubaneswar should be relocated to a backward area where it can contribute positively to the area and the existing 220 acres be used more productively; perhaps by turning it to a small Knowledge City, say similar to the 381 acres Knowledeg City in Mohali.
OR
(b) augment the current use by using part of the 220 acres of Sainik School Bhubaneswar to establish a military academy or an armed forces medical school or a DRDO lab, etc. to have better land utilization.
There are many examples similar to (b). For example, IISER Pune is established on NCL (National Chemical Laboratory) land.
This may be a good time to ponder about options (a) and (b) as it is reported that:
The 220-acres of land given by the government for the existing Sainik School in Bhubaneswar established in 1962 continues to be under the general administration department of the government.
December 16th, 2011
Following is from Priya Abraham’s report in Telegraph.
Private institutes in the state have started approaching the Odisha University Agriculture of Technology (OUAT) for affiliation, following passing of the OUAT bill.
The bill was passed on August 23 amending the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology Act, 1965, to enable the university to accord affiliation to institutions in the private sector for imparting education in agriculture, veterinary, fisheries, forestry and allied sciences.
While two private colleges in the capital have approached the authorities, a former professor of the varsity is said to be considering the idea of setting up an agricultural college, sources said.
… While students are keen to take admission in the constituent colleges of the OUAT, the existing intake capacity of the varsity is limited.
This year, the university had received about 12,000 applications for admission in 608 seats in various courses in the colleges of agriculture, agricultural engineering, fisheries, veterinary science and home science.
The university is also working towards the establishment of two constituent colleges. There will be a college of veterinary science in Sambalpur and a college in dairy technology in Baripada.
December 5th, 2011
