Tura Medical College faces faculty crunch; Meghalaya Health Dept reviews operationalisation

Shillong, October 1 (IANS): The proposed Tura Medical College in Meghalaya continues to face a major faculty shortage, with only 37 teaching staff currently mapped against the 97 required by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for an annual intake of 50 MBBS students, officials said on Thursday.

The issue came up for detailed review during a meeting chaired by Health and Family Welfare Commissioner and Secretary Dr Joram Beda to assess the preparedness for operationalising the government medical college.

According to the Health and Family Welfare Department, the shortage of teaching faculty remains one of the biggest challenges in making the medical college functional.

The department said it has been working for more than a year to bridge the gap and has undertaken several measures to identify eligible faculty members.

These efforts included identifying willing and qualified in-service doctors, issuing three separate rounds of advertisements to recruit teaching staff and holding consultations with doctors based in Tura to explore ways to address the shortage of specialists.

Despite these efforts, the number of available faculty members remains significantly below the NMC requirement.

Against this backdrop, the review meeting recommended that the 150-bed and 80-bed hospital blocks currently under construction at the Tura Civil Hospital campus be completed and commissioned for patient care.

Officials said the move would ensure that the substantial healthcare infrastructure being created in Tura starts benefiting people across the Garo Hills region even if the medical college itself cannot become fully operational immediately.

The additional facilities are also expected to substantially enhance the overall bed capacity of Tura Civil Hospital, which is envisaged to function as the teaching hospital attached to the proposed medical college.

The department said strengthening the hospital infrastructure would, therefore, serve both immediate healthcare needs and the longer-term requirements of the medical college.

The review meeting was attended by senior officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department, including the Directors of Health Services, Medical Superintendents of Tura Civil Hospital and Tura MCH Hospital, besides members of the Manpower Assessment Committee.

Officials are expected to continue efforts to mobilise the required teaching manpower while work on the hospital infrastructure progresses.