Editorial

The Centre's clearance for the setting up of a new medical college attached to the Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi has come at a "very appropriate time as the need for having additional I medical colleges in the country has been I felt for very long.

The Capital has four medical colleges, if one has to include the All India Institute of Medical Sciences which has hardly any seats for students from the city. Delhi has been growing at a rate faster than any other metropolitan city In the world. Its unofficial population is about 20 million and therefore

the number of medical colleges needs to be increased.

Two of the largest hospitals in the city-LNJP and Safdarjung- get adequate cases, which could provide clinical support tor any medical college to succeed. The LNJP serves the Maulana Azad Medical College which come up in the late fifties. The Safdarjung Hospital, for a brief period, was attached to the University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), Subsequently, the UCMS was shifted to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital complex in the Trans-Yamuna area.

Since then the Safdarjung Hospital, which has produced some of the best known doctors in the country including Dr. Sankaran, the renowned orthopaedic and Dr. Chugh who was Lal Bahadur Shastri's personal physician, has not been attached to any teaching institution.

The Medical Council of India chief Dr. Keren Desoi has also stated that the Sofdorjung Hospital is twice the size of a hospital that is needed for attachment by any medical college as per the rules of the MCI- Therefore, it was ideally suited for the new medical college proposed to be started this year Itself. Over the years the number of students wanting to get enrolled in medical institutions has gone up considerably. Why should children from the Capitol go to some of the capitation colleges in Karnataka or Maharashtra when they con avail better facilities and that too on merit in the city itself.