Guwahati: The Assam government on Tuesday approved a proposal to rename the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital in Barpeta as Barpeta Medical College and Hospital.
Announcing the decision after a meeting of the state cabinet, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the move was aimed at bringing the institution’s name in line with the naming pattern followed by other government medical colleges in the state.
He pointed out that most medical colleges in Assam are named after the places where they are located, citing examples such as those in Guwahati, Dhubri, Silchar, Bongaigaon, Biswanath and Sonitpur.
He said the name of the Barpeta-based medical college did not follow this pattern, prompting the government to review it.
According to the chief minister, the cabinet decided to change the name in order to avoid confusion among the public. He noted that the existing name often led people to assume that the institution was privately run.
Sarma also said the government would honour former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed by naming another institution after him in recognition of his contributions. “We will take a decision in this regard to keep his name alive,” he added.
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Established in 2011, the medical college is affiliated with Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences. It began offering undergraduate medical courses in 2012 and introduced postgraduate programmes in 2019.
