E-Paper
75 medical collegesto be set up by 2022: Government
The move is expected to add at least 15,700 MBBS/BDS seats, which would take the total number of undergraduate medical seats to nearly one lakh.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the setting up of 75 new government medical colleges across India by the 2021-22 academic session.
The move is expected to add at least 15,700 MBBS/BDS seats, which would take the total number of undergraduate medical seats to nearly one lakh. The plan is to upgrade existing district/referral hospitals and attach the medical colleges to each of them.
The colleges will come up in the next three years under Phase III of a centrally sponsored scheme for “establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district or referral hospitals”.
The new institutes will be set up in under-served districts of the country that do not have any medical colleges, a government statement said. They would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 24,375 crore.
At the cabinet briefing, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said the establishment of medical colleges would lead to an increase in qualified health professionals, improve tertiary care in the government sector, utilise existing infrastructure of districts hospitals and promote affordable medical education in the country.
“The new medical colleges will be set up in areas with at least 200-bed district hospitals. However, preference will be given to aspirational districts and district hospitals having 300 beds,” the minister said.
With continued focus on creation of health-care infrastructure, the government had earlier approved the setting up of 58 medical colleges attached to existing district/referral hospitals under Phase I, and 24 colleges under Phase II. Of these, 39 medical colleges under Phase I have already started functioning, while the remaining 19 would be made functional by 2020-21.
Under Phase II, 18 new medical colleges have been approved.
