Minister Chang visits proposed sites of new Nagaland house in Guwahati, medical lodge in Shillong

DIMAPUR — Minister of Housing and Mechanical Engineering, P Bashangmongba Chang on Monday visited the proposed sites for the construction of a new Nagaland house in Guwahati and a medical lodge in Shillong.

The site identified for the new Nagaland house is located at Azara near Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Management and Technology (GIMT) Guwahati and is about 1 km away from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in the capital city of Assam.

The minister apprised during the visit that the proposed project would be initiated at the earliest, according to an update received here on Monday.

Chang and his entourage also visited the proposed site of the state’s medical lodge at Mawdiangdiang, near North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in New Shillong, Meghalaya, on the same day.

During the visit, he interacted with the doctors and nurses from Nagaland, who are working at NEIGRIHMS, in the guest house of the institute; and discussed challenges and grievances faced by the patients coming to the state as well as ways to overcome them.

He also extended financial help to patients undergoing treatment at NEIGRIHMS, said the update.

Nochovono Tase, Professor-cum-Principal, College of Nursing, NEIGRIHMS, thanked the government of Nagaland for showing keen interest in constructing a medical lodge in Shillong, saying that it’s the need of the hour.

She said that around 5,000 to 6,000 patients from Nagaland come to NEIGRIHMS for medical treatment as ‘it is the nearest, affordable and renders good services particularly for the cancer patients’.

She expressed confidence that exposure trips to NEIGRIHMS will inspire students to embark on taking medical courses. Being the first-ever postgraduate medical institute in the Northeast and considered to be the best government medical college in the region, she said it would be good if the Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMSR) ties up with the institute.

Highlighting the blueprint of the proposed medical lodge, Executive Engineer Estate Division, Ketousielie Kengurusie said the facility will be a ‘four-story building, inclusive of the basement; 30 rooms for patients with kitchen attached and washroom and a 45-bedded dormitory’.

Meanwhile, minister Chang acknowledged the healthcare workers at NEIGRIHMS for their tireless efforts and consistent services to the patients during the Covid pandemic.

He said the government of Nagaland is focusing on major areas of concern such as health, education and infrastructure sectors, and that the proposed medical lodge is one of the projects on the priority list.

The minister later inspected the proposed site of the facility along with health staff and engineers.

As per the update, the project has to be developed within five years from the date of inking the land lease agreement (February 2022), which means the proposed medical lodge has to be completed by February 2027.

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