India announces 75 new medical colleges; will add thousands of MBBS seats

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar has announced that the Cabinet has approved 75 new medical colleges, to be established by 2021-22, news agency ANI reported. This move will add 15,700 MBBS seats in the country.

A total of Rs 24,735 crore has been earmarked for the new medical colleges. If implemented, the move would give a massive push up to the ailing healthcare sector of the country and infuse the much-needed manpower.

The medical colleges will be set up in under-served areas having no such institutes. These medical colleges will to attached with district hospitals having at least 200 beds, a government statement said. Preference will be given to 'aspirational districts' and district hospitals having 300 beds, it said.

The proposal is part of phase III of a centrally sponsored scheme for "establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district or referral hospitals".

The announcement comes just a few weeks after National Medical Commission or NMC Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha. The Bill was also touted to facilitate the setting up of new medical colleges in the country

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar: The Cabinet has approved 75 new medical colleges, to be established by 2021-22. This is a move to add 15,700 MBBS seats in the country. pic.twitter.com/UUsPnxEDtJ

— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2019

Javadekar, in the press conference on Wednesday, also announced that the cabinet has approved some other major decisions like subsidies on the export of sugar and 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in coal mining.