Assam CM inaugurates Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust Hospital in Deoghar, Jharkhand

Guwahati: Assam chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today inaugurated the Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust Hospital in Deoghar, Jharkhand. The state-of-the-art 750-bed hospital will make the healthcare more advanced in Deoghar.

Sarma paying obeisance to Baba Baidyanath, said that the Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust Hospital has been established in Deoghar through a joint initiative of the Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust and P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre. He said that a medical college would also be established at the site in the future.

The Chief Minister expressed hope that the hospital would play an important role in providing advanced healthcare services to the people especially those belonging to the economically weaker and middle-income sections of society.


Referring to the development taking place in Deoghar and Godda in Jharkhand, Chief Minister

Sarma said that the region now has an airport, AIIMS, railway connectivity and a ring road. He said that the development achieved in the Godda parliamentary constituency under the leadership of MP Nishikant Dubey has set an example for the entire country. Continuing this momentum of development, another major hospital has now been inaugurated in the constituency.

Drawing upon his experience of serving as Assam’s Health Minister for nearly 15 years since 2006, Sarma observed that the architecture and design of a hospital also play an important role in determining its success. Expressing satisfaction with the facilities of the newly inaugurated hospital, including its ICU, emergency unit and general wards, he said that the hospital has been designed keeping the convenience of ordinary people in mind. He noted that, rather than leaving the entire process to architects, MP Nishikant Dubey and Dr. Anamika Gautam, Chairperson of the Trust, have given considerable thought to the design and construction of the hospital.

Referring to Chairperson Dr. Anamika Gautam, the Chief Minister said that the objective behind establishing hospitals under the Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust is not profit-making but public service. Therefore, instead of partnering with a professional healthcare group, the Trust has collaborated with an organisation like the Hinduja Group, which had established its first hospital in Mumbai to assist refugees who came to India from Pakistan during partition.

He expressed hope that the vision of MP Nishikant Dubey, the hard work of Dr. Anamika Gautam and the medical expertise of the Hinduja Group would transform the hospital into a great temple of public service.

Expressing hope that AIIMS Deoghar and the Baba Baidyanath Medical Trust Hospital would complement each other, the Chief Minister said that each institution would strengthen the other and benefit the people of Jharkhand and Bihar. He said that in the past, people from Deoghar, Godda and other parts of Jharkhand had to travel to Kolkata for quality medical treatment. However, a strong healthcare ecosystem is gradually being established in the state. People will now increasingly start coming to Deoghar for medical treatment, and the town, which is a major centre of spiritual tourism, will gradually emerge as a centre of medical tourism as well.

Comparing the healthcare and medical education scenario in the country in the past with the present, the Chief Minister said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, India had 387 medical colleges. The number has now increased to 846. Until 2014, the country produced 51,384 MBBS doctors annually, whereas the figure has now increased to 1,39,864 doctors every year. He further said that 22 AIIMS institutions have now been established across the country. As a result, there has been a significant transformation in the balance between the demand and supply of doctors.

Sarma said that the first medical college in the state was established in the 1950s, the second in the 1960s and the third in the 1970s. Despite having a population of around 3.5 crore, Assam had only three medical colleges and produced just around 300 doctors annually. As the supply of doctors was inadequate in relation to the demand, people in Assam could not receive adequate healthcare services.

He said that the number of medical colleges in Assam has now increased to 16, and a medical college in Bongaigaon district will be inaugurated next month. Earlier, Assam produced around 350 doctors every year, whereas the state now produces 2,200 doctors annually.

Stating that the government has a vision of establishing 32 more medical colleges in Assam, in addition to AIIMS and the ESIC Medical College, the Chief Minister said that of these, 16 have already been established, while the number of MBBS seats will be increased to 4,000. He also stated that, in order to provide employment opportunities to such a large number of doctors, the latest State Budget has announced the deployment of two doctors at each of Assam’s 5,000 sub-health centres.