Gandhinagar, Oct 15 (IANS) The Gujarat government has approved four brownfield medical colleges in Kheda, Mahisagar, Botad and Gir Somnath districts under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with the selected institutions required to continue existing free hospital services and provide free treatment to accident and trauma patients.
The approvals, announced by Health Minister Praful Pansheriya, cover the establishment of medical colleges and hospitals by upgrading existing district government hospitals.
The project is also expected to increase medical education seats and expand access to specialist healthcare in rural and remote areas.
The Shri Gayaprasad Jain Charitable Trust, Ahmedabad, will establish the medical college and hospital in Kheda district. In Mahisagar, the project will be undertaken by Shri Swaminarayan Vishwamangal Gurukul, Kalol, affiliated with Swaminarayan University.
The Shri Chanakya Education and Charitable Trust, Veraval, has been selected for Gir Somnath, while Delta Millennium Medicare Private Limited, Bhadiyad, Morbi, will establish the facility in Botad.
The state government’s Health and Family Welfare Department approved the projects under the leadership of Pansheriya.
The colleges are planned as self-financed institutions with modern hospital facilities. The selected institutions will have to maintain all existing free services available to patients at the hospitals.
They will also be required to provide free treatment to pregnant women and children from 20 days after birth until the age of one year, according to the government’s announcement.
Each project must include a dialysis unit with at least 10 beds. The institutions will also have to ensure immediate free treatment for patients injured in accidents and those requiring trauma care.
A Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient Welfare Committee) will be constituted for each project under the chairmanship of the respective district collector to oversee the administration and planning of patient-oriented services.
Pansheriya said the government is committed to ensuring that residents can access modern medical treatment in their own districts and that government hospitals have more specialist doctors.
“The colleges would help extend quality healthcare to rural and remote areas while increasing the availability of medical education seats within the state,” he added.
The government said the projects would allow residents to access advanced healthcare facilities more easily while strengthening the medical infrastructure of the four districts.
–IANS
mys/dan