Guwahati, Aug. 7: The hospital of the Jorhat Medical College, which is now under construction, will open its doors to patients from September 1.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said chief minister Tarun Gogoi would inaugurate the 350-bed hospital, but it would initially function from the Jorhat Civil Hospital building.

“The Jorhat Civil Hospital will cease to function from September 1 and the hospital of the Jorhat Medical College will start functioning from there till the construction of its own building is completed,” Sarma said.

“The construction of the hospital building is going on in full swing and 35 per cent of the work is over. The admission of the first batch of 100 students to MBBS courses in the college will start in July next year,” he added.

The Jorhat Medical College will be the fourth medical college and hospital in the state. The state government will invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to inaugurate the medical college next year.

The government has spent Rs 50 crore to set up the institution and in the next six months an another Rs 70 crore will be spent on it.

“The good news is that Assam is getting a new medical college and hospital after a gap of nearly 40 years. The last medical college and hospital to be set up in the state was at Silchar in 1968,” the health minister said, adding that the gap had created a big vacuum in the healthcare delivery system of the state.

“Ideally Assam should have one medical college in every 10 years to meet the healthcare needs of its growing population,” he said.

Sarma said another two medical colleges and hospitals would be established at Tezpur and Barpeta in 2011 and 2012 respectively. “Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has envisaged one medical college and hospital in each district of the state within the next 10 years and we are working towards it,” he added.

The Jorhat Medical College, he said, would adopt the sub-divisional hospital at Garmur in Majuli so that the river-island also benefits from the new medical college. “It will make sure that three to four doctors of the medical college always stay at the Majuli sub-divisional hospital so that the patients get 24-hour access to doctors,” he said.

The health minister also said a panel, including doctors Alaka Goswami and U.C. Sarma, has been formed to examine the pros and cons of converting the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital into an annexe of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. The move, he hoped, would improve the healthcare delivery system at the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital.