NOC to pvt med college: Cong and CPM walk out of Tripura assembly

Agartala: Opposition Congress and CPM staged a walkout from the Tripura assembly on Friday after protesting in the well, demanding a joint legislature committee (JLC) to investigate the procedure of issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to Tripura Santiniketan Medical College (TSMC), run by the West Bengal-based Swadhin Trust.
Responding to a calling attention motion by Congress MLA Sudip Roybarman, chief minister Manik Saha, who holds the health portfolio, said as per central govt norms and considering the request, the Tripura govt has allowed TSMC to use a portion of the state referral hospital – IGM – for teaching purposes until its infrastructure is ready.
The state govt has also imposed stringent conditions on TSMC for using the hospital premises for teaching purposes. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has permitted them to admit 150 MBBS students from this academic session, with 50% of seats reserved for Tripura students.
“Since Swadhin Trust has invested money in infrastructure and their 500-bed hospital will be ready in a year, the state govt allowed them to use the IGM premises without disrupting existing services and facilities,” Saha said.
He referred to the Medical College Establishment Rules of 1999 and the National Medical Commission Guidelines of 2023, stating that these rules and guidelines permit the govt to allow private medical colleges to use govt hospitals for educational purposes through a Memorandum of Understanding.
However, Roybarman alleged that the chairman of Swadhin Trust, Moloy Pith, has been accused of several crimes, including cattle smuggling to Bangladesh from West Bengal, and has been questioned by the CBI multiple times. Moreover, another medical college run by the group in Bolpur of West Bengal has not been performing well, with the first batch of MBBS students yet to obtain their degrees.