JAMMU: The newly sanctioned Government Medical College (GMC) Udhampur is operating from two separate locations nearly 12 kilometres apart, raising concerns over its compliance with infrastructure norms and its impact on patient care and emergency services.
According to an official government response to a query by Pawan Kumar Gupta in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, GMC Udhampur was sanctioned in 2019 under the Centre’s scheme for establishing medical colleges attached to district or referral hospitals. Due to the unavailability of a single 200-kanal site, the college has been developed across two locations: the District Hospital Udhampur complex, which houses the 200-bedded teaching hospital on 60 kanals of land, and Village Baili, approximately 10 kilometres away, which accommodates administrative blocks, hostels, and other non-clinical infrastructure on 170 kanals.
Officials said that the split-site model complies with the amended National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines, which permit such arrangements in hilly or tribal areas, provided the sites are within a 10-kilometre radius or accessible within 30 minutes. Despite cramped conditions at the District Hospital, authorities claimed that 84.2 per cent of the total land area remains open or green space, meeting NMC requirements.
However, concerns persist regarding inadequate parking provisions, as the detailed project report (DPR) did not include plans for basement or ground floor parking in the associated hospital block. While no accountability has yet been fixed for this omission, the administration is now considering repurposing an adjacent Industrial Training Institute (ITI) building to expand services and infrastructure, including a proposed 50-bedded maternity and critical care facility under ECRP-II.
The government also acknowledged that residential quarters for doctors are currently located 12 to 15 kilometres from the hospital, potentially affecting emergency response. To address this, hospital staff are deployed round the clock, supported by on-call duties and dedicated transport arrangements. A committee has been formed to examine the relocation of a nearby power receiving station to facilitate future expansion.
