To meet the shortage of over 7.5 lakh doctors in the country, the government has agreed to establish new medical colleges attached to district and referral hospitals.
Under this scheme, GB Pant hospital at Port Blair (400-bed strength), District Hospital Kohima, Nagaland (300-bed strength), District Hospital Almora, Uttarakhand (500-bed strength), District Hospitals at Churu (300-bed strength) and Dungarpur (300-bed strength) in Rajasthan, District Hospitals at Datia (350- bed strength) and District Hospital at Khandwa (300-bed strength) in Madhya Pradesh will have medical colleges with 100 MBBS seats each.
Health Minister J.P. Nadda recently said there was a need to “think out of the box” to meet the shortage of doctors. The Centre will also strengthen and upgrade the existing State government and Central government medical colleges to increase MBBS seats.
As part of the plan, the Punjab government has been allowed to increase MBBS seats at Government Medical College, Patiala from 150 to 200 and at Government Medical College, Amritsar from 150 to 200.
Seats will also be increased from 150 to 250 in Government Medical College, Coimbatore and from 100 to 150 in Government Medical College, Tirunelveli.
In Government Medical College, Madurai, the seats will be increased from 155 to 250.
Seats will also be increased at Government Medical College, Haldwani, from 100 to 150, from 150 to 200 at the Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, from 100 to 150 in S. S. Medical College, Rewa and from 150 to 250 at GR Medical College, Gwalior.
Medical seats will also be increased at RNT Medical College, Udaipur and Government Medical College, Jhalawar.
