New Delhi: Defence Minister George Fernandes today (Jan 28, 2004) said India would soon have its own Defence University.

"This will save the service personnel and their wards from running around seeking admissions to various courses," Fernandes said after laying the foundation stone of a medical college at the Army base hospital complex.

He described the armed forces doctors and paramedics as among the best in the world.

The medical college will be affiliated to the Indraprastha College in the capital and to begin with will have 100 seats for undergraduates with the cost being borne by Army Group Insurance Fund.

Fernandes said the medical college had been set up as wards of soldiers often do not have the benefits of a settled uninterrupted qualitative education, which resulted in large number of such children being unable to prepare for competitive examinations.

The medical college, the Minister said, would offer seats to deserving eligible candidates who are the children of Army personnel including war widows and ex-servicemen. Presently, Armed Forces Medical College at Pune is the lone service institution open to all categories of students including civilians, which conducts MBBS, MD, MS and BSC Nursing courses.