MCs under AMU to get higher central grant
   
Aligarh, Sep 30,2012 : Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital here under the Aligarh Muslim University will receive an annual recurring grant at par with top central government hospitals at Delhi, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said.
   
"It is unfortunate that health parameter indicators for the Muslim community in India were at the bottom of the pile," he said at a commemoration meeting at the Kennedy Auditorium on the eve of the golden jubilee celebrations of the college.
   
"Let me assure the Aligarh Muslim University that even when I am not a minister at the Centre, I will remain an ally of yours for supporting your just demands especially in the field of medical education," he said, conceding the long- standing demand of the AMU. The minister said that he was aware that grants to the Medical College have not been revised for a long time.
   
"Now, let me assure you that we will be taking necessary steps to ensure that this college is counted among the best in the country in the years to come," he said. Sibal said that within a month, the AMU will get one-time and recurring grants which they have been demanding for several years now.
   
He also announced that the central government would immediately respond to any proposal of starting vocational training courses at the medical college and other concerned faculties of the university. He said the HRD Ministry was prepared to commence a BSc vocational degree at AMU, once the basic framework of the course was worked out.
   
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who earlier inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology, announced that 19 medical colleges including the J N Medical College were being upgraded to the level of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
   
Earlier, AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah said the existing grant of Rs 2.1 crore per year, which works out to be Rs 55 per patient per day was the lowest for all central government hospitals in the country. He said other Central Government hospitals which were under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were given a grant of Rs. 300 per patient per day.