Tripura CM Manik Saha opens Rs 8.44 crore nursing campus in Durjoynagar
A single three-storey building now houses three nursing and training institutions, part of Tripura's wider push to build health capacity from district hospitals to remote clinics.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Monday inaugurated a new three-storey building in Durjoynagar that brings Agartala Government Nursing College, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Nursing School and the ANM Training Institute under one roof. The project cost Rs 8.44 crore. At the same event, Saha laid the foundation stone for a new building for the Narsingar Primary Health Centre.
Why it matters: hospitals are only as strong as the people who staff them. Nurses and auxiliary nurse-midwives (ANMs) are the first point of contact in most primary health centres, especially in remote areas. Housing three training streams in one campus can ease shared use of classrooms and facilities, though the government has not detailed intake numbers or seat capacity.
Saha framed healthcare as a basic need, saying a healthy population makes for a healthier society. He said the government aims to deliver modern, quality public health services to children, the elderly and economically weaker sections in both urban and remote areas.
The chief minister pointed to several changes he says are under way. According to him, bed capacity in district hospitals has risen significantly, and outpatient (OPD) services have been expanded across the main referral hospital, district and sub-divisional hospitals and other health facilities. He described the change in health services as radical, a claim that rests on his own account, as no supporting figures were given at the event.
He also listed a broader build-out of medical education: modernisation of the state's main referral hospitals, along with dental, eye, homoeopathic and Ayurvedic colleges and hospitals. Saha said nursing education has been widened too, and that 550 MBBS seats have been added across government and private institutions. For a small north-eastern state, that is a notable pipeline of future doctors, and it ties directly to the jobs and training story in healthcare.
On the Narsingar health centre, Saha promised quick construction and said the government is completing works transparently and within stipulated timelines. Delivery against that promise is the thing to watch, since new buildings matter only when they are staffed, equipped and open to patients.
Health Department Secretary Kiran Gitte, Acting Sabhadhipati of Paschim Tripura Zilla Parishad Bishwajit Shil, former MLAs Dr. Dilip Das and Krishnadhan Das, Health Department Director Dr. Debashree Debbarma and West Tripura District Magistrate Dr. Vishal Kumar attended. Source report: Asianet Newsable.