Govt medical college in Udupi in PPP mode: MLA Raghupati Bhat

Udupi: The long-awaited government medical college in Udupi will be built on a PPP mode, according to MLA of Udupi K Raghupathi Bhat.

Bhat told reporters on Thursday that Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited will draft the Detailed Project Report and more brainstorming will take place to ensure that the PPP model for a government medical college in Udupi becomes a reality. The new district government hospital is already under construction, and getting a government medical college will be simple once the infrastructure is in place, according to Bhat.

The requisite funds may be provided by the government once 75 per cent of the civil works at the site of the new district government hospital are completed. "If we wait much longer, presuming that the government will give Udupi a medical college with full funding, it will just cause further delay as the State needs huge investment." Currently, the Union government is focusing on building medical colleges in the districts that do not have a single government or private medical college.

Udupi may not get a government medical college if it waits for it to come from the government alone, because the district already has one private medical college (KMC, Manipal). As a result, continuing with the PPP model appears to be the best option.

He believes that if the government medical college in Udupi is completed on fast track. the facilities will also improve. Bhat further claimed that CM Basavaraj Bommai and State Health Minister Dr Sudhakar's decision to upgrade the district government hospital made it feasible to establish a medical college in the district.