JP Nadda Highlights Healthcare Expansion at ILBS Convocation

Calling the ceremony a significant milestone, Nadda said ILBS has earned global recognition for its achievements in patient care, medical education, research, and innovation.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda addressed the 10th Convocation of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in New Delhi, congratulating graduating students and urging them to combine medical excellence with compassion and ethical practice as they begin the next phase of their careers.

Calling the ceremony a significant milestone, Nadda said ILBS has earned global recognition for its achievements in patient care, medical education, research, and innovation. He also praised the institute for creating greater public awareness about fatty liver disease through its clinical services, research programmes, and community outreach, helping people better understand the condition, its risk factors, and the importance of prevention.

Medical education sees major expansion across the country

The Health Minister said the government has strengthened medical education by investing in both infrastructure and the overall academic ecosystem needed to support students, researchers, and healthcare professionals. He noted that building hospitals and institutions alone is not enough, and that a supportive policy environment is equally important for delivering quality healthcare.

Highlighting the expansion of India's medical education network, Nadda said the country now has 23 AIIMS institutions, compared to just one before 1998 and seven after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's expansion. He added that the number of medical colleges has increased from 387 to 818, while undergraduate medical seats have grown from around 50,000 to more than 1.2 lakh. The government has also set a target of creating 75,000 additional MBBS seats over five years, with nearly 25,000 already added. Postgraduate medical seats have also risen from about 30,000 to more than 80,000.

Preventive healthcare remains central to Viksit Bharat vision

Nadda said a stronger healthcare system begins with a solid primary care network, pointing to the establishment of more than 1.85 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs across the country. He described these centres as the first point of contact for millions of citizens and said they are reshaping healthcare by promoting prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

He highlighted the impact of large-scale screening programmes for non-communicable diseases. According to the minister, more than 42 crore people have been screened for hypertension and diabetes, leading to the diagnosis of over 7.3 crore hypertension cases and nearly 5 crore diabetes cases. Screening has also covered over 35 crore people for oral cancer, more than 16 crore women for breast cancer, and over 9 crore women for cervical cancer, helping detect thousands of cases at an earlier stage.

Addressing the graduating students, Nadda said the vision of Viksit Bharat cannot be achieved without a Swasth Bharat. He encouraged the new specialists to uphold the highest standards of medical ethics, remain committed to lifelong learning, and use their expertise to improve the health and well-being of communities across the country.