Jhargram district, an area spreading across almost 3025 sq Km and having a population of about 1.2
million, belongs to the western part of the West Bengal, with Jhargram city as its headquarters with a
population of about 62 thousand. Previously, a part of the Paschim Midnapur district, it found its
independent entity as the 22nd district of the state on 4th April, 2017. Jhargram is famous for its
natural flora and fauna with its marvellous wooden beauty along with an attractive landscape culminating
in the hill ranges of Belpahari, Kankrajhor at the north and Subarnarekha to the south. It is also rich
in several ancient temples, royal palaces, and folk tunes and rhythms that make it a favourite
destination for people who love forests and is natural flora and fauna.
The cultural and educational heritage of this area of the Western part of West Bengal has been enriched
since a long time. The Jhargram palace, Chilkigarh Kanak Durga Temple, Sabitri Devi Mandir, Medicinal
Plant Garden, Ketki falls and the tribal museum are few to mentioned among many others. On the other
hand, several educational institutions like Raj college, Nursing training centre, polytechnic college,
teachers training and BEd college bear the rich educational heritage of this area.
Healthcare system of this area has advanced rapidly in last few years. Government has built up a five
storied "Super Specialty Hospital" in the premises of the hospital and from 11/02/2016 the existing
district hospital had been merged with the super specialty hospital to deliver a more modern and
sophisticated care to the people. Furthermore, to increase the ratio of number of medical colleges and
doctors to the population of the state, recently the government of West Bengal initiated six more
medical
colleges to be operational from 2021 in the state that will have one medical college per 36.95 lakh
population from the existing 58.37 lakh in the state. Jhargram government medical college is one of
those
six new medical colleges which comprises of about 44.39 acres of land and targets to admit 100 students
for the MBBS training at present. The proposed New Medical College with 100 Admission MBBS seats
annually
will be located at Jhargram at District Jhargram. It will be regulated by the Directorate of Medical
Education, Government of West Bengal.The existing district hospital will be upgraded in terms of space,
facilities, equipments and other requirements as detailed in the “Minimum Requirements for Annual
M.B.B.S. Admissions Regulations, 2020”. The existing district hospital is 600 bedded facility operating
from last few decades with annual patient load of 131310 in patients and 312000 outpatients that will be
increased in graded manner with advent of the medical college and hospital.
With the addition of this new medical college, it is aimed at improving the doctor-patient ratio in the
state, reducing the state’s disease burden and to provide more quality medical services at the tertiary
care level to the population of Jhargram and its surrounding area4