Imphal, August 16, 2010: The long-cherished dream of a medical college of its own in Manipur becomes a reality when state Governor, Gurbachan Jagat inaugurated the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) on Monday.

In Manipur, except for the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), there is no other medical college.

RIMS, established by the North Eastern Council (NEC) the only institute of its kinds became an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India with effect from 1st April, 2007. It is registered under the Manipur Society Act 1860 as a Society.

It caters to medical studies of the seven North-East States including Sikkim.

Establishment of JNIMS, Imphal marks a watershed in the history of health care and medical research in Manipur.

It will have a far reaching impact on health not only in Manipur but also in the entire north-east region, said Chief Minister O Ibobi who presided over the inaugural function graced by Governor, Gurbachan Jagat as chief guest.

Health Minister, Ph Parijat and opposition leader, Radhabinod Koijam were among other dignitaries present at the function.

It was a challenging task to establish a new medical college and run it as no such college can be established without the prior permission of the Medical Council of India and the Central government.

The MCI sets stringent standard for different stages of development of the college, a vision document called JNIMS-Vision 2014 released on the occasion stated.

The objective of the setting up the college is to provide quality education to students of health care and to achieve all targets in terms of faculty and infrastructure of the college and hospital as required by the MCI by January, 2014 when the 4th and final renewal inspection for grant of recognition of the institute for MBBS degree by the MCI will be the major goal, JNIMS-Vision 2014 stated.

Addressing the inaugural function as chief guest, Manipur Governor, Gurbachan Jagat acknowledged the "tremendous personal efforts" made by the Chief Minister, O Ibobi and his council of ministers to get the permission of the MCI for this institution.

He also expressed pride of the government's endeavours in the field of education and development citing the recent commencement of the first session of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) and the "Zero Garbage Campaign".

"Not only are we inaugurating the JNIMS today but a few days ago, the National Institute of Technology has also started functioning.

Along with this, the government has announced a vigorous clean up operation for the city of Imphal.

All these measures taken up together point out the direction in which the state of Manipur should move, that is, the path of development, peace, reconciliation and education and health for all citizens," he said.

Health is one of the most important sectors of human development, especially the health of women and children.

JNIMS would be functioning as a hospital with advance systems of diagnosis and treatment, he expressed with confidence.

In his speech as president, Chief Minister, O Ibobi asserted that the institute inaugurated today will not only cater to the needs of high quality medical education in the state but will also set high degrees of standards in all streams of professional health care and medical research.

"It is expected that JNIMS will be the next significant mile-stone after the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal and will take research and health care to a higher pedestal in the state," he hopes.

However, the two high dignitories were not satisfied with the health care delivery system of the doctors especially towards the health of women and children and the rural poor.

The Governor said "Even after the passage of more than 60 years of independence, we have not been able to provide quality health care for all our citizens, especially the rural poor.

We have some system in place but we do not have willing doctors to go and serve in these difficult areas".

He urged upon the government to provide a scheme of incentives to doctors willing to serve in these areas and also appealed to the young doctors to volunteer to serve in these areas out of compassion and love for "our less fortunate brothers, sisters and their children.

Chief Minister, O Ibobi blamed doctors in the state for taking less care of their duty to serve the poor and for taking an avid interest in referring patients admitted at government hospitals to private hospitals.

"Not all but the majority of doctors in government hospitals refer patients admitted to government hospitals, they are serving in, to private hospitals they were working with, even though enough infrastructure and facilities are available in the government hospitals to treat patients," he said.

He said this practice has led to families of patients to spend huge amounts of avoidable money.

This hardship hits, nparticular the poorer section of the society.

Such cases are frequently detected in delivery cases, he added.

The medical college inaugurated today is being funded by the government of Manipur.

At present, the capital investment for infrastructure development is met mainly out of the Special Plan Assistance of the Central government.

Any deficit is to be made up from the state plan.

An amount of Rs 35 crores was made available during 2008-09.Another 61 crores was provided for 2009-10.A sum of Rs 60 crore from SPA and Rs 50 crore from the state plan are available for the year 2010-11, to meet the infrastructure development and recurring expense of the college and hospital.

The total estimated project cost, that is, till full recognition in 2015 is around Rs 12,00 crores as per the new Draft Plan Report (DPR).

The government is fully committed to provide the required fund, a government statement regarding the new medical college stated.

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