Chikkaballapur : The new medical college at Chikkaballapur was inaugurated Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday, July 08. Incidentally Chikkaballapur also happens to be the home constituency of Minister Sudhakar. Speaking at the inauguration, he remembered an incident about how his mother died due to unavailability of advanced healthcare in the district, Minister Sudhakar became emotional and stated, “When I was young, my mother suddenly became ill and the only nearest hospital was at Bengaluru, 1.5 hours away. Unfortunately, I lost her. From that day I was dreaming of having a medical college in my hometown Chikkaballapur and finally, today is a dream come true for me.”

At the inauguration, Minister Sudhakar remembered and thanked Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa for his efforts in sanctioning the college. He also thanked current Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for his continuous support to ensure timely completion of the project.

Additionally, Minister Sudhakar recalled that several members in the Congress-JDS coalition had tried to get the college shifted to Kanakapura and he had to fight to keep the college at Chikkaballapur. “There was a situation where I had to resign as the MLA and some people had tried to get the college shifted to Kanakapura during the period I was out of office. However, I fought to keep the college in Chikkaballapur as originally planned. I requested the then Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to retain the college in Chikkaballapur. Thanks to his co-operation the plan was saved,” he said.

The actual building of the college is nearly completed but the classes commenced from Friday for MBBS, Nursing and other Allied courses at a temporary building. The new building is expected to be completed by January 2023.