Will Geta Medical College be established as a medical university?

Dhangadhi: It has been emphasized that a medical university should be set up in Geta to make the Far-West self-reliant in education and health.

The civil leaders of the region have stressed on the need to make the medical college (under construction) a medical university as the area of growth for the medical college will be small and cumbersome. Kailali's civic leader Pramod Pathak said that the Geta Medical College should be made autonomous.

He said that the state would not benefit much from the operation of the medical college while the physical infrastructure built for the college can be be turned into an university which can be operated as a health establishment.

Leaders have demanded the federal government to pass a decision on this issue as per the wishes of the common people of the Far-West. Leaders argue that the state lags far behind in medical education therefore the college should be run as an autonomous body to strengthen the medical facilities in the region.

Khadak Raj Joshi, the coordinator of INSEC Far-West, said that the need for thousands of citizens to go out of the state to get quality health care would reduced if there was a medical university. "Geta Medical College should be made autonomous," he said. "Everyone should start drawing the government's attention." Many believe that the federal government should do justice to the Far-West by declaring Geta Medical College (under construction) as a health science academy or medical university.

But civic leaders have made public their views on the modality, but have been reluctant to put pressure on the government to make that decision. President of the Kailali Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pushpa Kunwar, on the other hand, said that they have played an important role in building the physical infrastructure of Geta. "The need to build a medical university is also coming from the people," he said. "The Kailali Chamber of Commerce and Industry has organized a meeting on Wednesday."

There are discussions to be held to put pressure on the government.