Mukul Sangma inaugurates the first maternity and child hospital of Garo Hills in Tura on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Shillong, June 12: Chief minister Mukul Sangma visited West Garo Hills today and promised that Tura and Shillong would get new medical colleges. He was inaugurating a government hospital in Tura.

Soon after the Assembly session concluded yesterday, Sangma and deputy chief minister in-charge of health Rowell Lyngdoh arrived in Tura to inaugurate a 50-bed mother-and-child hospital.

The hospital, which is the first of its kind in Garo hills and the second in the state, was constructed at a cost of over Rs 9 crore and will cater exclusively to women and children, dealing particularly with the reproductive health of women and immunisation of children. Initially, the hospital will function only with an outpatients department, but the indoor wards will also start functioning soon.

Sangma said besides the plan to construct a medical college in Shillong on a private-public-partnership mode, the state government was making efforts to set up a medical college in Tura to serve the three Garo hills districts.

The department of health and family welfare yesterday invited expression of interest from established and registered academic and educational institutions, technical educational trusts and consultancy firms. The parties have to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) to establish medical colleges, one in the government sector and another under PPP mode. According to the department, the consultants will play an advisory role in setting up the projects one earmarked for Tura and another for Shillong right stage.

Regarding the new maternity hospital, the chief minister said there were some ano-malies in the construction and certain modern facilities were yet to be put in place. Deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal had asked the chief minister to provide the required manpower to run the hospital.

Sangma said necessary steps would be taken to make it fully functional with- out delay. He, however, admitted it was difficult finding doctors with post-graduate degrees.The chief minister also said first referral units (FRUs) for treatment of cancer would be set up in the state next month.