• MP holds meeting with Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) authorities
• Rs. 100 crore to be raised through State Budget allocation, alumni contribution, CSR funding

Mysore/Mysuru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited for the centenary celebrations of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI), reckoned to be one of the country’s oldest medical colleges. Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar had established the institution in 1924 and the centenary falls in 2024.

It is Karnataka’s first medical college and India’s seventh and the MMC&RI management has planned to celebrate the occasion in a memorable manner. With the recent State Budget allocating Rs. 89 crore for its renovation, the celebratory mood at MMC&RI has only got better.

A preliminary meeting was held at the MMC&RI this morning chaired by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha where it was decided to invite PM Modi for the grand centenary event and the college authorities were asked by the MP to raise the bar and complete 100 percent renovation works before the celebrations.

A corpus of Rs. 100 crore is required for renovation and celebrations and Rs. 89 crore has already been allocated by the Basavaraj Bommai Government. “The remaining amount must be raised from MMC&RI alumni and also from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of several multinational companies and industrial giants operating from Mysuru,” he said.

“Due to COVID, PM Modi had delivered the centenary convocation address of University of Mysore virtually on Oct. 19, 2020. With the pandemic in its end stage now, we will urge the PM to be physically present for the MMC&RI centenary,” Simha later told Star of Mysore.

For the renovation of MMC&RI and its three teaching hospitals — K.R. Hospital, Cheluvamba Hospital and PKTB Hospital — many facilities will be shifted to the 220-bed Princess Krishnajammanni Super Speciality Hospital and the 120-bed Trauma Care Centre, both on KRS Road.

“Now both the hospitals are lying unused. Shifting, manpower, equipment and other necessities will cost Rs. 35 crore and funds have to be procured from the State Government,” Pratap Simha said and directed the authorities to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and submit the same to the State by May this year so that tenders can be called after approval and works can begin by August so that all works can be completed by 2024 August.

As the MMC&RI college building and the hospitals attached to the college are housed in heritage buildings, renovation and restoration must be initiated without altering the original building architecture, the MP noted. In all, 27 facilities at MMC&RI and its hostels have to be renovated.

MMC&RI Dean and Director Dr. H.N. Dinesh, Chief Administrative Officer Dr. B.N. Veena, Principal Dr. K.R. Dakshayani, Resident Medical Officer of K.R. Hospital Dr. Rajesh and engineers from the Public Works Department were present.