Balasore, July 31: The struggle for a government medical college and hospital in the district is set to intensify. The Government Medical College and Hospital Action Committee has been raising the demand for the past six years.

“We would organise peaceful demonstrations across the district. Our objective is to convince the state government that Balasore is the most appropriate venue in northern Orissa in terms of connectivity for establishing a government medical college and hospital,” said Baidyanath Sarangi, the committee’s working president.

This issue had been raised during the last general elections in 2009 and last August students from various educational institutions had submitted memoranda to the chief minister demanding a medical college.

“Since both the Centre and state government have shown an apathetic attitude towards the genuine demand of the district, we would step up our agitation,” said Niranjan Parida, organising secretary of the committee.

They would hold a meeting to decide on their next course of action, which included a proposal for staging a dharna outside the Assembly, he said. The Assembly would meet for its monsoon session between August 17 and 27. The committee says in comparison to several states , Orissa was far behind in terms of the doctor-population ratio.