Bhutan will get a medical college: PM

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Puran Gurung/ Thimphu
Bhutan would get its first medical college which would be attached to Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, announced Prime Minister Dr Dasho Lotay Tshering in the parliament earlier this week.
According to sources, the medical college’s suggested name is Bhutan Institute of Medical Sciences and it would be modelled after All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.
The college will have an intake capacity of 50 students for MBBS. The medical degree will be recognized by India.     
Indian counterparts to help Bhutan’s first medical college in 2009, send a three-member team of experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and also visited Bhutan to study the feasibility of starting a medical college in Bhutan.
A doctor, speaking on terms of anonymity, said the medical college would be a significant boost to the education system of the country, and it will constructively control the outflow of money that affects the economy of the country to go to a Third Country to study medicine.
He added that launching the medical college is not only a boost to the education system, it also launches developments and reforms in the health system of the country. “It is also a value addition to champion initiatives in the medical system of the country.”
Meanwhile, Bhutanese medical students pursue medical education in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
To launch the medical college in Bhutan, India will contribute capital of Rs 300 mn.