look news india
The Central Government has taken a historic and far-reaching decision for the health and medical education sector of the Union Territory of Ladakh. In order to start the first government medical college of Ladakh under construction in Leh in a time bound manner, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has provided special one-time relaxation in the recruitment rules. With this important policy decision, the way has been completely paved to start the initial and phased recruitment process on 103 regular posts sanctioned for the Medical College. This step will provide improved health services in the frontier region with extremely harsh geographical conditions and harsh climate as well as make it easier for the local youth to become doctors.
As per general rules, the process of appointment of faculty members and technical staff in any new medical college is started only when the infrastructure of the college is at least 80 percent complete. Keeping in mind the geographical location of Ladakh, long and harsh winters and limited working window, the Central Government has relaxed the mandatory condition of 80 percent construction. If this rule was not relaxed, there would have been an additional delay of years in starting the recruitment process after the construction was completed and the academic session would not have started on time. With this strategic intervention of the Centre, the selection process of faculty and non-teaching staff will also be able to proceed parallel with the construction work.
After the approval of the Union Health Ministry, the Ladakh Union Territory Administration will now start the recruitment process in a phased manner on a total of 103 regular posts sanctioned for the college. These posts include Deans, Professors of various medical departments, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Senior Residents as well as technical posts of Laboratory Technicians, Nursing staff and administrative cadre.
The objective of the Administration is to ensure in advance the availability of required minimum academic faculty and basic staff in accordance with the stringent standards and guidelines of the National Medical Commission (NMC). Since attracting experienced doctors and senior professors in a remote area like Ladakh has been a challenging task, advance recruitment will provide sufficient time to the administration to bring qualified medical teachers from across the country to Leh and groom them as per local requirements, if necessary.
According to the plan of the administration, a target has been set to start the first batch of MBBS in this first medical college being built in Leh from the academic session 2027-28. Till now, the meritorious students of Ladakh had to depend on medical colleges of Jammu, Srinagar, Delhi or other states of the country to pursue higher medical education, where the number of seats was limited.
With the establishment of the first government medical college in the home region, not only will the local students get an opportunity to get quality medical education on their own soil, but students from across the country will also be able to study in Leh through All India Quota (AIQ). This will help in permanently eliminating the acute shortage of doctors in the Union Territory, as the doctors passing out from here will be able to provide better services in the local primary and community health centres.
This medical college is being affiliated to SNM (Sonam Norbu Memorial) Hospital, Leh, which is being upgraded as a 500 bedded super specialty teaching hospital equipped with modern facilities. Patients from the remote villages of Nubra, Changthang and Kargil in Ladakh often had to be airlifted to Chandigarh or Delhi for minor and serious illnesses, heart disease, neuro or complex surgeries, which proved to be extremely costly financially and in emergency situations, fatal.
After the full operationalization of the Medical College, round the clock availability of advanced diagnostic labs, MRI, CT Scan, modern ICU, modular operation theater and critical care units will be ensured in Leh itself. With this, the security forces deployed in the border areas, the local tribal population and the domestic and international tourists arriving in large numbers will be able to provide world class emergency medical aid in case of any emergency.
Ever since Ladakh was made a separate union territory in 2019, the central government’s focus has been on the rejuvenation of infrastructure, road connectivity, education and health facilities in the region. The establishment of a modern medical college in this sensitive area, which remains cut off from the rest of India for several months during winter, is a strong example of self-reliant India and balanced regional development.
Leh administration says that soon after the relaxation in recruitment rules, detailed notification of recruitment advertisement, eligibility conditions and application process will be released on the official portal. This dual strategy of infrastructure creation and staff selection is going to add a golden chapter in the health history of Ladakh, which will prove to be the lifeblood of the entire Himalayan region in the years to come.