Shillong, July 27: Meghalaya Health Minister, A.L. Hek on Friday said that the Assam government will allot ten medical seats for Meghalaya and would not change the quota, which has been allotted for the past many years.

Hek said that he had discussed with Assam Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma on the issue, after receiving a letter from Assam which stated that only two out of ten seats would be allotted for Meghalaya.

“I had a talk with the Assam health minister and told him about the quota which Meghalaya cannot afford to lose now especially when the state is yet to have its own medical college. I impressed upon him that the quota should continue till Meghalaya has its own medical college,” Hek said.

According to Hek, the Assam health minister has assured that the ten medical seats that were allotted for Meghalaya would continue.

Assam has been reserving 10 medical seats for Meghalaya – four each in Assam Medical College and Hospital and Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and two in Silchar Medical College.

In September last year, the Assam government was also directed by the Supreme Court to allocate 10 medical seats for Meghalaya after the Assam government made a move to abolish the 10 medical seats that were reserved for Meghalaya.

On the two proposed medical colleges at Shillong and Tura, Hek said that construction of the medical college at Tura will start soon and the work order allotted to a firm that would execute the work, while the construction of Shillong medical college would start only after the present Reid Chest TB Hospital at Mawbah is shifted to a new TB hospital at Umsawli near the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences.

The construction of Tura medical college has been initially earmarked at Rs 189 crore with a state share of 10 per cent, though the total cost of the medical college is over Rs 500 crore.