Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on 14 October inaugurated the first medical college in the northeastern state, reported news agency PTI.
Despite being the second oldest state in the Northeast after Assam, Nagaland has been the only state in the region and the country without a medical college. But, no more.
Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMSR) is affiliated to Nagaland University. It received the letter of permission for the admission of 100 MBBS students from the academic year 2023-2024 from the National Medical Commission (NMC) in April, paving the way to start the first medical college in Nagaland after 60 years of statehood, the health ministry said in a statement.
Highlighting that it was a long-cherished dream of the people of Nagaland to have a medical college in their state, the Chief Minister thanked the central government for steadfastly taking up the project.
Rio also said the NIMSR would help the state strengthen its secondary and tertiary healthcare and hoped that it would become a centre of excellence in the future.
Mandaviya on the other hand highlighted the Centre’s commitment to improving medical education in India, said, “In a span of just nine years, the (number of) MBBS seats in India has increased from 64,000 to 1.6 lakh. Similarly, PG seats have also doubled in the last nine years.”