Construction of a ₹182 crore teaching hospital for the proposed Puttur government medical college has been launched at Sediyapu, with local MLA Ashok Kumar Rai saying the hospital and related college buildings will be completed within a year and the institution will shift to the new campus in its second year.
Rai made the announcement after performing the bhoomi puja for the teaching hospital. He said the hospital project would be followed by the foundation-laying ceremony for the medical college building, for which ₹550 crore has already been sanctioned. According to him, the Chief Minister is expected to perform the foundation ceremony within the next month.
The proposed medical college and hospital are planned at Sediyapu in Puttur. Rai said construction work had been started without delay because there was no suitable date available during the coming month. The project is intended to establish a major public healthcare and medical education facility in the region.
Rai said the objective was to develop Puttur as a medical hub. He also announced plans for a nursing college and said five acres had been provided for an Ayurveda college. As an interim arrangement, he said the medical college would be started at Puttur’s old court building in December 2027 under what he described as “Plan B”.
The MLA said he had persuaded the Chief Minister to approve the medical college, but stressed that the institution was not intended to serve one individual or one political group. His remarks came amid criticism and questions on social media over whether the sanctioned project had received approval from the Finance Department. Rai rejected those doubts and said the medical college would proceed.
The project places Puttur’s healthcare expansion within a wider public infrastructure challenge: large institutions require not only construction funds but also coordinated decisions on land, buildings, teaching facilities, hospitals, staffing and interim operations. The information released at the event did not specify the planned bed capacity of the teaching hospital, the number of medical seats, the executing agency, the tender status or the detailed construction schedule.
The event was attended by Medical College Struggle Committee president M.B. Vishwanatha Rai, Puttur Mahalingeshwara Temple Management Committee president Panjigudde Eshwar Bhat, KPCC secretary M.S. Mohammed and other political and local representatives. Members of the Medical College Struggle Committee and farmer organisations also participated.
Rai’s stated timeline envisages completion of the buildings within the next year, followed by relocation to the Sediyapu campus in the subsequent year. The next announced milestone is the proposed foundation-laying ceremony for the ₹550 crore medical college building within a month.
