Chhattisgarh plans to set up a 100-bed hospital at an estimated cost of Rs.1 billion to improve health facilities in the tribal district of Bastar.
The hospital will also have an attached medical college and is to be located in Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar district.Chief Minister Raman Singh's government has made budgetary provisions of Rs.160 million for the medical college during the current fiscal, a health department official told IANS.
"The National Mineral Development Corporation, which has ore mining facilities in the Bastar region, will provide Rs.500 million during the next five years," the official said.
The allopathic medical college will be the third after Raipur and Bilaspur and the first in Chhattisgarh's backward region dominated by tribespersons that has largely been left untouched by modern medical facilities.
Tribals constitute about 70 percent of the population of Bastar, considered a Maoist stronghold.
Officials said the Medical Council of India had granted approval for the college.
Advertisement
