Brief History of the College
Government Medical College, Latur is a state-run medical college in the south-central part of Maharashtra, close to the Karnataka and Telangana borders. The college is affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Nashik, and its teaching hospital serves the wider Marathwada region.
Founding of the College
The college was started on 26 April 2002, at a time when the distribution of medical seats across the six zones of Maharashtra was highly uneven. Mumbai and Pune had two to three times more seats than Vidarbha, Marathwada and South Maharashtra, and MUHS highlighted this imbalance in its 2001 vision document presented to the Governor and the Chief Minister.
Following discussions in the state assembly, the government decided to open three new medical colleges — at Kolhapur, Akola and Latur. The essentiality certificate was obtained in October 2002, and permission from the Medical Council of India followed in January 2003. The first batch of 100 MBBS students was admitted in July 2003.
Hospitals and Campus
The college began in the premises of the existing District Hospital with 200 beds. The Kasturba Gandhi Women Hospital (60 beds) and the Eye Hospital (60 beds), both run by the public health department, were merged with the institution, and the hospitals were formally transferred to the medical education department on 1 October 2007.
An extra 13 acres were acquired from the land of a discontinued narrow-gauge railway, bringing the campus to about 53 acres. New hospital and college buildings were constructed with modern operation theatre design, while older blocks were expanded for the pre-clinical and para-clinical departments.
Key Milestones
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2002 | College started on 26 April; essentiality certificate in October |
| 2003 | MCI permission in January; first batch of 100 MBBS students admitted in July |
| 2005 | Post BSc Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology started (intake 10) |
| 2007 | District, women and eye hospitals merged; bed strength raised to 510; ICCU and NICU started |
| 2008–2009 | First batch completes internship; final MCI approval obtained in February 2009 |
| 2010–2011 | Postgraduate courses started; BPMT paramedical programme and GNM nursing diploma added |
Since the merger, the number of indoor and outdoor patients has grown roughly threefold, and referrals to higher centres have practically stopped. What began as a district hospital campus has become the main tertiary care and teaching institution of the Latur district.
- Affiliated to MUHS, Nashik, and recognised by the Medical Council of India
- MBBS intake raised from 100 to 150 students per year
- Teaching hospital with 510 beds, ICCU and NICU facilities
- Campus of about 53 acres near the old railway station in Latur