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On RTI enquiry, Centre says it approved 157 medical colleges since 2014 and spent over ₹17,000 crore on them
The query was raised by a Noida-based RTI activist Amit Gupta pertaining to the number of medical colleges present in the country and the government assistance they received in the last decade.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has stated to a new Right to Information (RTI) Act query that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government has given a nod to as many as 157 new medical colleges in India since 2014 and spent a total of ₹17,691.08 crore on them. The Union health ministry’s response to the RTI query mentioned that these medical institutes were approved under a centrally-sponsored scheme (CSS), according to news agency PTI.
The query was raised by a Noida-based RTI activist Amit Gupta pertaining to the number of medical colleges present in the country and the government assistance they received in the last decade. In its response, the ministry said that its medical education wing is administering the CSS for setting up of new colleges attached with existing district or referral hospitals.
“Under the scheme, 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the country in three phases. The first phase of this scheme was launched in 2014,” PTI reported quoting the ministry’s response to the RTI query.
Furthermore, the Union health ministry said that under the CSS, since 2014, about ₹2,451.1 crore has been given for the “upgradation of existing state government or central government medical colleges to increase MBBS seats in the country.”
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Notably, the above-mentioned figures are 2014 onwards. However, the Centre said that from 2009-10 till date, it has spent ₹1,743.89 crore for “strengthening and upgradation of state government medical colleges” for introducing new postgraduate courses and also increasing PG seats.
The Union health ministry, however, noted that government medical colleges do not receive any “annual” help under this CSS of ME-II sections from the central government.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, laid the foundation stone for four new medical colleges in Rajasthan’s Dausa, Sirohi, Hanumangarh, and Banswaea. He had said that the Centre is making efforts to establish at least one medical college or institution for PG discipline in every district of the northern state. He added that since 2014, 23 medical colleges had been given a nod by the Centre for Rajasthan, of which, seven are already functional.
