THE NAMO Medical Education and Research Institute, the only medical college in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, has become a beacon of hope and a symbol of growing aspirations of the people of the region, around 40 per cent of whom are tribals. Starting its operations from a leased building, the institute is now ready to shift to its own campus -- spread across 35 acres in Silvassa. Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the facility on April 17. He had laid the foundation stone in 2019.

The infrastructure has come up at a cost of Rs 203 crore and features state-of-the-art amenities such as a multi-storey library, academic block with four lecture halls and an auditorium, club house, residential accommodation for faculty and hostel for students, and provision for outdoor and indoor games. Dr Arun T, the Union Territory’s Health Secretary, said, “Pursuing higher education, especially medical education, has been a far-fetched dream for students of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. “Earlier, before the establishment of the medical college, only 10-12 students from the Union Territory could get the opportunity to avail of seats in medical colleges all over India from the central pool quota allotted to the Union Territory each year.”

The Union Territory could establish a medical college only in 2019 when, with the support and guidance of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, the NAMO Medical Education and Research Institute began functioning, he said. Dr Ramchandra Goyal, the dean of NAMO Medical Education and Research Institute, said the medical college started in the 2019-20 academic year with a capacity for 150 MBBS students. The number has been gradually increased to 177 with 27 seats for students from the Economically Weaker Sections.