Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday announced four new medical colleges for Bengal, taking the state’s total to around 30. The new colleges will come up in Alipurduar, Kalimpong, South Dinajpur and West Burdwan. Bengal currently has 26 state-run medical colleges, five of them in Kolkata.Adhikari also said the proposed AIIMS for north Bengal would be finalised after consultations with MLAs from the region on its location.The announcements were welcomed across districts. In Alipurduar — a district since 2014 that has long struggled with healthcare infrastructure — BJP MLA Paritosh Das said residents were pleased.In Kalimpong, the district’s chief medical officer said land identification has already begun, though he cautioned that acquisition in the Hills follows a different process and may take time.South Dinajpur’s announcement fulfils a long-standing local demand. Critical patients from the district currently have no option but to travel nearly 120 km to Malda Medical College, as neither Gangarampur Super Specialty Hospital nor Balurghat District Hospital has the infrastructure to treat them.“It is a dream come true for us,” said BJP district secretary Bapi Sarkar. Balurghat resident Subhendu Sarkar said, “People in the area can hardly afford private facilities. A govt-run hospital was the need of the hour.”In West Burdwan, Asansol resident Sachin Balodia said students from the district no longer faced the prospect of travelling to other districts for medical education.(With inputs from Roshan Gupta, Pinak Priya Bhattacharya, Subhro Maitra and Mohammad Asif)
