Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared the news on Twitter. He described it as a big milestone for Assam. “It is a matter of great personal pride when I see this 8th college, which I dreamed, is taking shape. Now, we have 1100 #MBBS seats for our kids,” Sarma tweeted.
Sarma was earlier associated with the establishment of five medical colleges in the state as health minister. “Assam’s eighth medical college got official recognition today,” he said.
Medical education in Assam received a major boost when the MBBS course was officially inaugurated at Diphu Medical College (DMC) in Karbi Anglong in February, taking the total number of MBBS seats in the state to 1,000. From 364 seats in 2006, the increase has been significant, although private medical colleges are yet to come up in Assam.
NEET results are awaited and the increased admission capacity has come as a big relief to medical aspirants who cannot afford to take admission in private medical colleges outside the state due to high cost.
In Assam, as per the distribution of seats, maximum 200 seats are allotted to Guwahati Medical College, Guwahati and Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh. Silchar Medical College, Jorhat Medical College, Barpeta Medical College and Tezpur Medical College have 125 seats each. At Diphu Medical College, the intake capacity is 100.
“For the academic session of 2021-22, which is starting soon, we will enroll students in all 1,100 seats. A total of 85% of these seats will be filled from the state quota and hence it is a huge advantage for the medical candidates who are residents of Assam,” said Anoop Kumar Burman, director of medical education, Assam.
He informed that the construction of two other medical colleges at Dhubri and Nalbari is in the final stage and is likely to be commissioned next year. “Our endeavor is to add a total of 200 more MBBS seats in Dhubri and Nalbari Medical Colleges. Hence from the next academic session the admission capacity of medical colleges in the state may go up to 1,300.
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