New Delhi: The Chief Minister said that the state government will construct 16 new Medical colleges in the state during coming five years. He said that this will enhance total tally of medical colleges in state to 25 thus transforming Punjab into a hub of medical education. He said this while chairing a meeting to review the status of upcoming five new Medical colleges at Sangrur, SAS Nagar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Malerkotla.

He said that the state has a glorious legacy of producing world class doctors across the globe and even today a large number of students pursue medical education to become qualified doctors from here. Lamenting that none of the successive governments in the state have focused on establishing quality Medical colleges in Punjab. Bhagwant Mann said that as a result of this a large number of students have to go abroad for getting medical education.

He envisioned that the students aspiring to pursue medical education will no longer have to go to countries like Ukraine.

On the contrary, the Chief Minister said that these students will be provided quality medical education in these medical colleges. Dwelling on the agenda Bhagwant Mann ordered that process of creating posts for medical college Sangrur must be completed at the earliest. He also asked PWD to ensure quality work and adhering to timelines adding that broad timelines should be made by all concerned to ensure timely start of the admission in next session.

For upcoming Medical college at SAS Nagar, Mohali, the Chief Minister ordered priority construction of additional hospital and hostels as required for next year should be expedited with proper adherence to timelines. Likewise, he asked the PWD department to expedite process of floating tenders for upgradation and construction work on Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur medical colleges.

Bhagwant Mann also directed the department to immediately start process of initiating work on Medical College Malerkotla.