Agra MP S.P. Singh Baghael has demanded AIIMS-type facilities and status for the Sarojini Naidu Medical College, founded in 1854 as Thompson Medical School, one of the three oldest medical institutions in the country.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, Baghael asked Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to explain what was lacking and what were the problems in upgrading the Agra medical college to a higher level.
He said the 1,000-bed medical college, spread over 25 acres in the heart of the city, and named after the first lady governess of Uttar Pradesh, poetess, and freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu, has all the infrastructural facilities. It is also popular with patients pouring in from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh.
The first batch of MBBS from the S.N. Medical College passed out in 1944 and since then a steady stream of medical professionals has enriched medical colleges in all parts of the country. Presently, 36 courses in 25 departments are being run by a faculty of 120 specialists.
Doctors in Agra have welcomed the initiative of the Lok Sabha member who has taken up the issue to focus attention on the useful contribution the Agra medical college had made as a mother institution.
(IANS)
