The Assam government on Tuesday decided to rename Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital as Barpeta Medical College and Hospital.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the state cabinet, which approved the decision, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said most government medical colleges in the state are named after the places where they are located.
“All our medical colleges are named after their locations. We see that in the medical colleges in Guwahati, Dhubri, Silchar, Bongaigaon, Biswanath and Sonitpur. Somehow, the Barpeta one was named as Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital, which does not align with the naming pattern of other medical colleges,” he said.
Sarma said the cabinet decided to rename the institution to avoid confusion.
“Because of its name, many people ask whether it is a private medical college. That is why the cabinet today decided to change the name and make it Barpeta Medical College and Hospital,” he said.
Sarma said the government would name another institution after former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in recognition of his stature.
“As Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was India’s president and the first one from Assam, the cabinet decided that another educational or cultural institution of the same or higher stature will be named after him. We will take a decision in this regard to keep his name alive,” he added.
Established in 2011, the medical college is affiliated with Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences and has been offering undergraduate courses since 2012 and postgraduate medical education since 2019.
Who was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed?
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth President of India from 1974 until his death in 1977. He was the second Muslim to hold the office and the second Indian president to die while in service.
Born in Old Delhi, Ahmed was the son of an Assamese army doctor. He was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and later at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he qualified as a barrister.
All our medical colleges are named after their locations. Somehow, the Barpeta one was named as Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital, which does not align with the naming pattern of other medical colleges.
Ahmed joined the Congress party in 1931 and was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement in 1942. Before his presidency, he served as a Union Minister under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, holding portfolios for Food and Agriculture, Education, and Industrial Development.
