Guwahati, Mar 11: The Assam cabinet on Tuesday decided to rename the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital (FAAMCH) in Barpeta as Barpeta Medical College and Hospital, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced.

Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, Sarma stated that the decision was made to maintain uniformity in the naming of government medical colleges in the state. Most of the medical colleges established by the state government have been named after the places where they are located.

“Among the 15 medical colleges set up by the state government, this was the only one not named after its location. Because of the name, many people often assumed it was a private medical college,” the chief minister said.

The institution, established in 2011, is the fifth medical college in Assam and currently offers both undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses. It has a 500-bed hospital and an intake capacity of 125 MBBS students.

Sarma said that while the college would be renamed, the state government would honour Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed—India’s fifth President and the only one from Assam—by naming another educational or cultural institution in the state after him. A decision on this will be taken later, he added.

Ahmed, born in Delhi, studied law at the University of Cambridge and later practised in Lahore and Guwahati. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1930 and served as the finance minister of Assam in the ministry led by Gopinath Bordoloi in 1939. He later went on to become the fifth President of India.

The decision to rename the medical college has sparked debate on social media, with several users criticising the move.